| Africa | Airtel Africa announces partnership with Mastercard in Africa. Airtel Africa has announced a partnership with Mastercard, giving over 100 million Airtel Africa mobile phone users across 14 African countries access to Mastercard's global network. The Mastercard virtual card allows Airtel Money customers, even those without a bank account, make payments to local and global online merchants that accept Mastercard cards. Proshare |
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| Zimbabwe | NetOne’s mobile money transfer service OneMoney grows by 97%. OneMoney grew by 97% in Q3 2019, driven by unique offerings including OnePay, a bulk payment facility. Active subscribers grew from 215,000 to 425,000 in the period under review. OneMoney allows users send and receive funds through the Peer to Peer function, as well as pay for goods and services to any NetOne number. The Herald |
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| Global | PayPal buys Guofubao Information Technology Company (GoPay), secures Chinese payments license. PayPal has become the first foreign firm to get an online payments license in China after buying a 70% stake in GoPay. GoPay holds a Chinese payment business license, meaning that PayPal becomes the first foreign company to enter the Chinese market some 2 years after Beijing promised to open up. PayPal will be able to offer online, mobile and cross-border payments, taking on market giants WeChat Pay and Alipay. Fintech Africa |
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Share a tip | Do you have an announcement, event, or job posting you'd like to share, or have you come across an interesting bit of African fintech news recently? Hit reply and let me know! I might be able to include it in next week's newsletter. |
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| Twitter | How is the Central Bank of Nigeria's new stamp duty tax affecting agent businesses? Victor Asemota () discusses the impact of the Central Bank of Nigeria's new policy on agent businesses in Nigeria . in this tweet |
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| Twitter | TransferWise launches in 8 new African countries. TransferWise CEO Kristo Käärmann () announced the remittance company's launch in 8 new African countries . in this thread |
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| Nigeria | Nigerian banks’ deposit with Central Bank dropped 68% in 9 months. Due to the pressure from CBN placed on Deposit Money Banks to meet the 60% Loan-to-Deposit Ratio (LDR) deadline of September 2019, banks’ deposits with the apex bank via the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) dropped by 68%. Nairametrics |
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| Nigeria | Nigeria's Eyowo launches digital bank, retail banking solution for businesses. Eyowo has launched a retail bank for businesses. A specialised point-of-sale terminal allows business owners to centralize tasks like order management, customer inventory monitoring, transaction reconciliation, and payment collection. Techpoint |
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| Nigeria | African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) discloses plan to list via Initial Public Offering (IPO). Afreximbank has declared its intention to list on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). According to the financial service firm, the public listing will enable it to capitalise on the opening up of trade across the African continent. Nairametrics |
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| South Africa | FNB to open more branches in the wake of canceled bank strike. South African bank FNB revealed plans to grow its branch network by adding 7 more branches to its existing national footprint of 619 branches. This news comes less than a month after in-branch bank employees threatened to go on strike due to the increasing number of closing branches and retrenchments as a result of digitization. IT News Africa |
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| Malawi | Malawi government hailed for reversing decision on mobile money tax. The Consumers Association of Malawi (CAMA) has hailed the Malawian government for its decision to withdraw the proposed 1% withholding tax on non-bank mobile money transactions. Malawi 24 |
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| Nigeria | Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) and Eurogiro partner to improve international remittance in Nigeria. To leverage the potential of Nigeria’s wide and rural network of post offices, NIPOST has entered into a partnership with Eurogiro, an open payment platform that helps postal organizations engage in financial services. Eurogiro will work with NIPOST to roll out its solution. The partnership will support NIPOST's quest in becoming a licensed institution by the Central Bank of Nigeria to remit money sent via international money transfer operators. Mobile Money Africa |
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| Global | eBay, Visa, Mastercard and Stripe leave Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency coalition. The news comes one week after PayPal announced its withdrawal in the face of increasing scrutiny from government regulators. CNBC |
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