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At its 26–29 January meeting, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Ghana decided to keep the policy rate steady at 14.50%, marking the fifth consecutive hold. The decision reflected the Bank’s assessment that despite inflation accelerating recently, it expects it to return to target in the second quarter of this year. Inflation jumped to 10.4% in December 2020 (November: 9.8%) as a result of quicker food inflation, thus landing above the Bank’s target range of 6.0%–10.0%. Although short-term risks to inflation are also emerging from fiscal expansion and rising oil prices, they remain broadly contained according to the Bank, enabling it to maintain its accommodative stance.

Capiter reads like a tech-enabled provider of factoring services, writing that the company “pays suppliers immediately” when they sell to a client and then “collects the payments from [the clients] on flexible payment plans.” Capiter is currently in conversation with different investors in the region, Menabytes claims, to raise money to support its growth.

FinTechs and the Value Chains in the Financial IndustryIt is beneficial to remember how things worked before and after FinTechs and TechFins or big techs in the financial industry.Banking models are shifting significantly from a pipeline, vertical, paradigm, to modular solutions that pave the way to new banking paradigms that entail higher levels of openness toward third parties and a growing number of modular services bundled together.Value is created in platforms through economies of scope in production and innovation (Gawer, 2014). In order for platforms to work, adoption and network effects are essential. Models can go to mere compliance with the prescriptions of openness of PSD2, to the inclusion of new services, the opening of the banking core and data, and the aggregation of those within a platform experience. In particular, we assist both to the evolution of a Bank-as-a-Platform model and a tech-platform-driven model supporting banking and financial intermediation, which both constitute a new interesting field of analysis.Since the wave of digital transformation started entering the financial industr

, banking-as-a-business has started moving from a product/service perspective to more contextual solutions where providers are customer needs-driven. This is because customer-driven companies outperform the shareholder-driven ones, and this requires an outside-in approach.Having said that, it is beneficial to remember that digital transformation implies four main categories of innovation (product, process, organizational and business model) (Omarini, 2019, p. 340); all of them require rediscovering that a new strategy paradigm exists. This regards the concept of co-creation, and because of this no single firm can unilaterally carry out a process of continuous experimentation, risk reduction, time compression, and minimizing investment while maximizing market impact. Co-creation requires access to resources from extended networks (suppliers, partners, and consumer communities).Under these new market conditions, FinTechs have become an important piece of a bigger puzzle, each one in its own area of business (payment, lending, etc.), while at the beg

inning most of them started as mono-business companies. Only a few of them may become leaders in the market. On the one hand, there are those that make their strategy become international, and on the other, there are FinTechs which enlarge their services-scopes. However, the majority of them will become part of ecosystems where the direction could swing from banks to tech companies or to FinTechs as well, able to manage the network by developing kinds of conglomerate-as-a-service.Another interesting point to outline regards this recent period where all of us have experienced lockdowns around the world, and some effects have also impacted FinTechs as well. The valuations of most unicorns have crashed overnight, while on the FinTechs side there are different situations. Some of them have experienced a dramatic reduction in their

As mentioned in the last article, it is not possible to define exactly what a robo-advisor is, as the individual providers offer a range of services of varying breadth. In fact, robo-advisors have long since ceased to offer mere recommendations or advice, and most providers are steadily expanding their services into a fully integrated solution. Accordingly, people now associate a robo-advisor with a platform that can also be used to make an investment directly (see [Bloch/Vins 2017, 114]). However, this service, for example, is linked to certain regulatory requirements, which are presented below. It should be noted here that this is the regulatory framework in Germany. In terms of regulation, four business models can be distinguished in the area of robo advisory services:

Agent banking has increasingly gained importance in developing countries over the last two decades. However, the extent to which agent banking can be used as a tool to mobilize deposit in the banking sector remains largely unknown and the true benefits of the agent banking model to customers, the banks and the bank agents also remains largely unstudied. The main objective of the study was to assess factors affecting agent banking deposit mobilization in case of lion international bank s.c. The study was conducted among 1,300 recorded agents with a respondent sample of 306 agents.

This Global Payment Gateways Market report provides the readers with detailed figures at which the Payment Gateways market was valued in the historical year and its expected growth in upcoming years. Besides, analysis also forecasts the CAGR at which the Payment Gateways industry is expected to mount and major factors driving markets growth. The global Payment Gateways market report offers users the detailed study of the market and its main aspects. There are different marketing strategies that every marketer looks up to in order to ace the competition in the Global market. There is a target set in market that every marketing strategy has to reach. Some of the important aspects analyzed in the report include market share, production, key regions, revenue rate as well as key players.

The 2019 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) was released worldwide on 23 January 2020, scoring and ranking 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of corruption.  The Index put together by Transparency International ranks countries annually by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.

The index foresees a range between zero (highly corrupt) and 100 (very clean), and based on these points, it ranks countries from the best performing to the worst-performing.  Since CPI is a perception index, no country will ever achieve a perfect score.  

Recently the introduction of 5G to the world has got everyone interested to find out more about it.5G is the fifth-generation mobile network. It is a new global wireless standard that is designed to connect virtually everyone and everything together including machines, objects, and devices

The Electoral Commission of Ghana has officially declared Nana Akufo-Addo as the winner of the 2020 presidential elections. Akufo-Addo has been reelected for a second term with 51. 59% of votes, beating out former president John Mahama of the NDC.

Ghana is a country of roughly 30 million people. It is a young and fast-growing country, with a relatively high population growth rate of 2.2 percent. More than half the population (57 percent) is under 25 years old. The country’s capital, Accra, is a bustling metropolitan area that is home to roughly 2 million people. Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region north of Accra, is another large population center and an active commercial center with roughly the same population as Accra.

Automated financial advising (robo-advising) has become an established practice in wealth management, yet very few studies have looked at the cross-section of the robo-advisors and the factors explaining the persistent variability in their portfolio allocation recommendations. Using a sample of 53 advising platforms from the US and Germany, we show that the underlying algorithms manage to identify different risk profiles, although substantial variability is evident even within the same investor types' groups. The robo-advisor expertise in a particular asset class seems to play a significant role, as does the geographical location, while the breadth of the offered investment choice (number of portfolios) across the robo-advisors under study does not seem to have an effect.

Anlesinya et al (2014)16 examined whether corporate social responsibility has significant positive effect on the financial performance of MTN Ghana Limited. The study administered questionnaire on 35 management staff of MTN Ghana Limited, employed standard multiple regression and hierarchical multiple regression for the analysis. The research results showed that CSR at the aggregate level did not have significant positive effect on financial performance but community CSR has a positive while environmental CSR has negative effect on financial performance of MTN Ghana Limited. The study however has left key performance indicators of MTN Ghana unexplored lending support for a more comprehensive study in that regard. Vadiraj and Narahari (2014)1 attempted to develop a model that could predict the future trends of average revenue per user (ARPU) so that telecom service providers could formulate a strategy to increase their ARPU. The study using a multiple linear regression has been able to explain that subscriber base; number of operators and percentage of new users added periodically are the main determinants of average revenue per user (ARPU). Rahul and Xue (2012)17 attempted to examine the relationship between some selected factors and their contribution to the revenue of the Telecom industries in China and India. Using time series data collected from secondary sources from 2000 to 2010 on number of subscribers, technology innovation, and government regulation and policies, their granger causality test found no causality running from number of subscribers to the revenue of the telecom Industry in both China and India. They however found a causality running from technological innovation to the revenue of the Telecom Industries in both countries. Shmelev (2013)18 developed a model for calculating Telecom Company’s revenue and margin indicators. The study crafted the model for calculating the revenue of Telecom companies based on the Business Metric Framework (BMF) developed by the TeleManagement Forum, a global non-profit association for service providers in the Telecommunication sector. Examining the relationship between the two categories of KPIs in the BMF, the study concluded that it is possible to  create a function depending on the target KPIs lower levels, to calculate the final financial indicator at given rates and obtain a performance management  tool based on key performance indicators.  

The company makes its money by charging a small transaction fee to the retailer on each purchase. This fee varies. “We take a small transaction fee, much like the acquiring component to merchant transactions,” Ehlers says. SnapScan has a partnership with Standard Bank, which means it can process transactions at “competitive rates”, he adds. In addition to transaction fees, SnapScan offers its customers the option of accessing analytics or running loyalty programmes, both of which are billed as add-ons.

SnapScan co-founder, 28-year-old Kobus Ehlers, says there are a number of benefits to this approach for retailers. “It takes about 30 seconds to sign up. We issue a QR code, which you print, and you’re done.” Merchants without bank accounts can cash out their takings at the end of the day. “Customers can pay with the app, the retailer can then get a voucher code at the end of the day that they can punch in at a Standard Bank ATM — or hand over at a Spar — and get cash.” If customers don’t have the app installed, scanning the QR code will take them to the relevant app store where they can download it.

If customers don’t have the app installed, scanning the QR code will take them to the relevant app store where they can download it.

In 2012, two brothers, Chijioke Dozie and Ngozi Dozie, founded Carbon, a Nigerian digital bank start-up. Carbon began as a digital lending company, but now the company provides a variety of services, from payments to savings to investments. According to Dozie, “Our annual report will be released in the second quarter after our financial audit is complete, to gain customer trust, Chijioke Dozie, the CEO, told ProWellTech in 2019 that the company will make Carbon’s financials public.” If you note, before we published the 2019 fiscal year update, we released a year under review in January 2020.Gross profits, profit or loss before and after tax, liabilities and equity, total assets, etc. are included in Carbon’s annual report. Carbon’s year of analysis reveals processed payments, client base, disbursed loans, and investments made on the platform. The business with about 659,000 customers processed N96.54 billion (~$241.35 million) according to Carbon’s year of analysis for fiscal year 2020, which is up 89 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. N25.51 billion (~$63 million) was the disbursement volume for its lending arm, an improvement of 9.1 percent from the 2019 financial year. Investments worth N13.02 billion (~32.55 million) were made on the site, up by 365 percent from FY 2019.The factors that affected these numbers last year, according to the company, included the launch of an iOS app that pushed clients Acquisition, introducing its feature for low-income customers with USSD banking services; and a social chat feature to allow faster transactions. Besides that, Carbon obtained a microfinance bank license in an attempt to become a digital bank. The license implies, according to Dozie, that Carbon’s customers are given additional protection by the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation through depositor insurance. The standard Carbon wallet is now a full-fledged bank account, Dozie says, and clients will transact on the platform like any bank would.

 AgroCenta’s main competitors are Esoko (www.esoko.com), FarmerLine (www.farmerline.co) and Farm Radio (www.farmradio.org). These 3 competitors are “information-based” only, delivering market prices, weather information and extension advisory services via SMS to farmers.

By accruing farmer data, FarmDrive eliminates some of the risk for banks. FarmDrive has partnered with African financial firms who accept their alternative credit scores and determine appropriate loans for smallholder farmers. Lending institutions thus consider both the self-reported financial history of farmers as well as exogenous variables that will affect their crop yields.

FarmDrive depends on aid organizations, like USAID, and private firms that operate in the agricultural industry. FarmDrive is expanding its data collection through new partnerships with Planet, a satellite company, and The Impact Lab, a data analytics group, to potentially incorporate climate information gathered via satellite imagery into its algorithm.

Send payments back home in an easy and secure way. Taking care of your loved ones back home does not need to be complicated. EthioPay makes it easy to send money without having to worry whether the money will reach your loved ones. Our secure platform uses bank-grade encryption meaning when you send money, your loved ones are guaranteed to receive it. You also never have to worry about your payment methods being compromised. Use our one-time payment system or set an ongoing schedule. We know that sending money home depends on multiple factors. Sometimes you will want to send a one-time amount, other times you will want recurrent payments. Ethiopay caters for both instances by offering you flexible payment options that you can adjust to your needs. This helps you ensure that you never miss a payment when it's needed. Avoid the headaches of keeping track of payments. You want to keep track of payments you make for your personal records. This can be a challenge when using other platforms. The Ethiopay User Account Dashboard offers a unified and detailed view of all the transactions you have made on the platform. Each entry shows the date and time stamp, amount, recipient and transaction status of every payment made. Pay education & utility bills back home with Ethiopay Paying utility and school fees is an important way of empowering your loved ones back home. Whether you are in North America or Europe, Ethiopay offers an easy and reliable way to do this. In addition, you can opt to set up scheduled payments so the payments are made at the beginning of each school term or any other time frame your choose.

The lines between financial services (FS) and technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) firms have blurred to the point that the roads are a free-for-all and previously distinct sectors are colliding. Many TMT companies are applying for FS licences, and FS organisations have begun calling themselves technology companies. Fintech, or financial technology, is at the epicentre of this transformation. The FS and TMT industries are both using it to sharpen operational efficiency, lower costs, improve customer experience and heighten the appeal of their products and services. They’re also carving out new commercial possibilities. Digital-only banks are offering redesigned client propositions and cost profiles. Investment managers are deploying fully customised robo-advice. Insurers are using sensors to monitor people’s health and help prevent illness. And according to a recent PwC survey, consumers are ready for the digital shake-up. The question is no longer whether fintech will transform FS, but which firms will apply it best and emerge as leaders.  In this year’s Global Fintech Survey, we polled more than 500 FS and TMT executives worldwide and analysed their responses. We think the winning companies will be those that not only embrace fintech-driven business models but figure out how to navigate wider and more crowded lanes with approaches that make the most of FS and TMT’s combined strengths. This report will explore the current fintech landscape, the factors that will determine the likely winners and losers in coming years, and the steps that organisations can take to put themselves in the best position to lead.