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Vodafone and MTN’s Ghanaian units are allowed to share subscriber data with the government to help it track down the contacts of coronavirus cases, a high court in Accra ruled Tuesday.

Vodafone and MTN’s Ghanaian units are allowed to share subscriber data with the government to help it track down the contacts of coronavirus cases, a high court in Accra ruled Tuesday.

Vodafone and MTN’s Ghanaian units are allowed to share subscriber data with the government to help it track down the contacts of coronavirus cases, a high court in Accra ruled Tuesday.

An alternative to bank card-based transactions, direct carrier and direct wallet billing offered by TPAY MOBILE allows users to make purchases by charging payments to their mobile phone carrier bills or pre-paid airtime balance, as well as wallet stored value. Such cashless payments have become even more popular with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic as consumers increase their digital spending while facing restrictions on leaving their homes.

100% tax relief to Kenyans earning Ksh24, 000 and below.Pay as you earn (PAYE) reduction from a maximum of 30% to 25%.Reduction of turnover tax rate from 3% to 1% for all micro, small and medium enterprises.Reduction of resident income tax to 25%.The Government to make available Ksh10 billion to vulnerable groups including the elderly and orphans, among others. This, the president, said will be done through cash transfers from the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection.

Face au Covid-19, les médecins se réorganisent et se ruent sur la consultation en ligne sur la plate-forme DabaDoc. De quoi soulager tous les Marocains à risque de contamination. 

For its part, AXA Assurance Maroc announces that it will reimburse medical expenses for video consultation for disease declaration files submitted by AXA policyholders. These files are supplemented by the prescription and the payment receipt received by email from DabaDoc. 

DabaDoc met à disposition des patients la possibilité de prendre rendez-vous en ligne depuis la plateforme DabaDoc.com et d’échanger avec un médecin à distance sans se déplacer. Le service de consultation vidéo a été activé par DabaDoc pour tous les médecins adhérents, sans engagement.  Un lien unique et sécurisé est généré à chaque rendez-vous et transmis aux patients et aux médecins par SMS pour démarrer leur vidéo.  Le service ne nécessite pas le téléchargement d’une application mobile et fonctionne directement sur Chrome (Android) et Safari (iOS).

De son côté, AXA Assurance Maroc annonce qu'elle assurera le remboursement des frais médicaux de consultation vidéo pour les dossiers de déclaration maladies soumis par les assurés AXA. Ces dossiers sont complétés par la prescription et le récépissé de règlement reçus par courriel de DabaDoc. 

Mukuru, which is based in the city of Cape Town, said that it had seen a rise in users during the coronavirus pandemic – caused in part by customers choosing to prioritise remittances to family. Remittance services were designated as essential during the coronavirus lockdowns in South Africa – offering firms such as Mukuru a lifeline as customers in some verticals sought continued services. The firm has also paired up with global money transfer brand WorldRemit to offer what was described by Mukuru’s chief executive as “broader, deeper pay-out networks” that tackled the network’s “white space” issues.

An Egyptian digital payments firm has quadrupled in value during the pandemic, helped by a government push to reduce citizens’ heavy reliance on cash. Investors and analysts are split on whether the stock rally has further legs.

A 300% rally from a mid-March low has boosted its market value to 20 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.3 billion). That puts Fawry among the country’s 10 most valuable companies alongside firms such as Telecom Egypt Co. and Elswedy Electric Co., which generate many times more revenue and profit.

The main telecoms operators in the country are all pitching in too – starting with Safaricom which uses the M-Pesa mobile application. In my book “Startup Lions, at the heart of African Tech” I explain how M-Pesa was born organically (and unexpectedly) from contact with the poorest Kenyan populations who didn’t even have bank accounts. A great many of them used ‘m-banking’ to gain financial independence which led to the M-Pesa service having over 22.6 million users in Kenya in 2019 – almost two-thirds of the adult population. A few hours after the president’s announcement, M-Pesa decided to drastically reduce its usage fees and to remove the daily transaction volume limit across the board in order to increase cash flow.

la plateforme spécialisée dans la digitalisation de l’accès à la santé, Dabadoc  s’engage contre la propagation du coronavirus en mettant à la disposition des médecins le service de consultation vidéo.

« La consultation par vidéo soulagera les patients qui souhaitent échanger avec un médecin sans se déplacer. DabaDoc met à disposition des patients la possibilité de prendre rendez-vous en ligne depuis la plateforme DabaDoc.com et d’échanger avec un médecin à distance »

WorldRemit is just one of many different money transfer services that have become increasingly popular, especially since coronavirus has taken hold. Money transfer services are perfect for moving funds around, and thanks to quite a lot of competition they're now a relatively cheap and easy way of getting the job done. WorldRemit was set up in 2010, is headquartered in London and sits in the same marketplace as the likes of Azimo, Transferwise, CurrencyFair, Lebara Money Transfer, PayPal, Zelle and other competitors.

Digital financeAs the global economy recovers from COVID-19, one particular area of focus for FinTech is financial inclusion. According to the World Bank, there are currently around 1.7 billion unbanked individuals worldwide, and FinTechs will be central to efforts to integrate these people into the global banking system.Doing so will help to mitigate the economic and social impact of the pandemic. According to Deloitte, FinTechs, in strategic partnerships with financial institutions, retailers and government sectors across jurisdictions, can help democratise financial services by providing basic financial services in a fair and transparent way to economically vulnerable populations.Digital finance is also expanding in other areas. Health concerns in the COVID-19 era have made physical cash payments less practical, opening the door to an increase in digital payments and e-wallets. Though cash use was predicted to decline in any case, COVID-19 has hurried that decline, due to concerns that handing over money can cause human to human transmission of the virus. According to a Mastercard survey looking at the implications of the coronavirus pandemic, 82 percent of respondents worldwide viewed contactless as the cleaner way to pay, and 74 percent said they will continue to use contactless payment post-pandemic.In addition, improved ‘know your customer’ services are required to counter the rise in digital fraud and cyber crime since the beginning of the outbreak. As more of the global economic and financial system continues to move online, cyber defences will become even more crucial to protect data. Security-conscious FinTechs are designing their products with this in mind – even if face-to-face meetings and processes do return. Given the rising reliance on technology, digital transformation will be a primary focus for FIs in the months and years ahead. Whereas previous efforts to integrate technology may have been limited in scope, many FIs are awakening to the fact that in order to deliver an efficient, effective and sustainable banking service, they must adopt a more holistic approach to digital transformation, which includes utilising FinTech.

Since the launch of the partnership in June 2020, WorldRemit customers in over 50 countries – including the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Europe – have been able to send money to their loved ones in Zimbabwe who are in need of financial resources as the coronavirus pandemic draws out. Beneficiaries can collect their WorldRemit remittance at any of Mukuru’s 150+ orange booths and multiple branches located across Zimbabwe in both rural and peri-urban areas.The cash pick up service is operational six days a week and customers will not have to endure long queues. They can collect their cash quickly and safely.

Consumers continue to use Google Search and YouTube for inspiration and learning new skills, and ‘how to’ searches continue to grow across both platforms.

Fawry for Banking & Payment Technology Services SAE, an Egyptian digital payments provider, was listed on Cairo’s exchange about a year back. The company recently experienced a 300% increase in its market value to 20 billion Egyptian pounds (appr. $1.3 billion). The payments firm confirmed that its valuation has grown 4x since the COVID-19 outbreak in late February 2020. As first reported by Bloomberg, Fawry is now ranked among Egypt’s 10 most valuable firms, which include Telecom Egypt Co. and Elswedy Electric Co. However, these businesses are generating a lot more revenue compared to Fawry for now. Many locals in Egypt are still settling transactions with cash payments, despite the Coronavirus crisis which has made it unsafe to handle paper currency notes. However, the nation’s reserve bank has asked lending platforms and other financial service providers to encourage residents to make digital payments via mobile wallets. The central bank also wants Egyptians to use online payment platforms like Fawry in order to limit physical contact, so that the virus doesn’t spread further.

The remittances services were declared an essential service during the lockdown restrictions to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.South Africa moved to level 3 lockdown late in December after the country breached the one million mark of confirmed Covid-19 cases while Zimbabwe went into a hard lockdown as the entire country was declared a coronavirus hotspot as the infection rates drastically surged in all the country’s regions.“We remain cautiously optimistic we can continue in the year ahead to layer new products and services onto our platform to unlock value and move our customers up along the financial inclusion curve.“We will also constantly look to build our network and footprint across Africa and beyond, which will allow us to grow our business not only in terms of the breadth of relevant products and services we offer, but in the depth of customer markets we serve,” said Jury.

GLC Paints is providing EGP 500 grants to construction painters through Fawry outlets across Egypt in an initiative to help those affected by the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.The move by GLC Paints comes as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme. The company has also responded to government and social calls for private sector companies to support workers in the current conditions.

People across the world are economically impacted by the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. Funding these loans will provide a financial safety net during an uncertain time, in addition to leading borrowers on a path to recovery.