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The $6 million investment will help Fawry, a local company, extend its network of payment terminals across Egypt, a country heavily reliant on cumbersome cash transactions. That is expected to help consumers pay bills and make it easier for businesses to receive payments, stoking commerce and economic growth.

The investment is also designed to help restore investor confidence in Egypt and create jobs in its burgeoning high-tech sector.

M-Pesa is Africa's most successful mobile money service and the region’s largest fintech platform. M-Pesa is the preferred way to make payments across the continent both for the banked and unbanked due to its safety and unmatched convenience.

It also provides financial services to millions of people who have mobile phones, but do not have bank accounts, or only have limited access to banking services. Now, M-Pesa provides over 42 million people with a safe, secure and affordable way to send and receive money, top-up airtime, make bill payments, receive salaries, get short-term loans and much more.

In early 2020, Vodacom & Safaricom completed the acquisition of the M-Pesa brand from Vodafone Group through a newly created joint venture. The joint venture will accelerate the growth of M-Pesa through Africa by giving both Vodacom and Safaricom full control of the M-Pesa brand, product development and support services as well as the opportunity to expand M-Pesa into new African markets

Safaricom PLC and Ant Financial Services – the world’s largest fintech services provider – have announced a partnership that will allow Kenyans shopping on AliExpress to pay for their purchases using M-PESA.

Safaricom PLC and Ant Financial Services – the world’s largest fintech services provider – have announced a partnership that will allow Kenyans shopping on AliExpress to pay for their purchases using M-PESA.

Kenyans shopping on Aliexpress.com will be presented with M-PESA as one of the payment options when checking out their shopping cart on the website. Once customers select M-PESA, they will then key in their mobile phone numbers and will subsequently receive a prompt on their phones to type their M-PESA PIN to complete the payment.

Kiva Small Business Loan FeaturesSome attractive aspects of a Kiva loan includes more flexible terms, low costs to borrowers and emphasis on supporting community-wide projects that can shape the future for a family or an entire community.

Some attractive aspects of a Kiva loan includes more flexible terms, low costs to borrowers and emphasis on supporting community-wide projects that can shape the future for a family or an entire community.

The response by banks right now to fintech disruption is critical due to the current stage of the nascent industry’s development. Fintech startups are broadly focused on the concept of unbundling banks, offering one type of product/service and concentrating on doing it VERY well.

Fintech, shortened from financial technology, is assumed to be a modern movement, yet the use of technology to assist financial services is by no means a recent phenomenon. Financial services is an industry that introduced credit cards in the 1950s, internet banking in the 1990s and since the turn of the millennium, contactless payment technology. Yet, fintech’s place in the public conscience has really taken off in the past three years:

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

‘KYC’ is one of the most important terms in FinTech, as ‘knowing your customer’ is a regulatory requirement for all financial institutions. The main goal is fraud prevention and constraining the ability of certain users who do not meet given acceptance criteria. Traditionally of course, this was done entirely in person, with account holders visiting their banks with the relevant ID documents. But for the past years, KYC has been moving increasingly into the digital domain. This move has brought a vast range of benefits to users and FinTech providers alike, but a number of challenges remain. Below, we outline some of these and present you with ways in which to combat them if you’re looking to set-up, or improve your digital finance platform, or to improve your customer experience.

JUMO builds its credit profiles using behavioral data gathered from mobile wallets, cell phones and transaction data.

JUMO is a transaction and predictive technology platform that partners with mobile network operators and banks to offer customers microloans and access to savings and insurance products. They are currently active in six markets – Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Pakistan – with plans to soon launch in India, Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria. JUMO has helped disburse over $1.6 billion in funding to small and micro enterprises, and has helped connect over 15 million people to credit and savings services.

JUMO also has a mobile wallet technology that offers an easy-to-use service that is accessible via mobile devices.Watkins-Ball commented on the cost-effective technology used to collect information which strengthened the business model, He said: “When we founded JUMO, we were always clear that we can only achieve our mission by leveraging sophisticated information technologies at really low cost.

Fawry's network processed 600.1 million transactions last year with a total value of 34.2 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.1 billion), EFG Hermes said in its statement.

The company will continue to develop and expand its offering to provide a range of product development and payments services.Kobus Ehlers, Firepay CEO, said: “Our team is looking forward to building out our payments platform to solve the real-world payments problems we have always focused on, and to provide customers with the best experience possible. We’re excited to work with Standard Bank in our mission to achieve this both in South Africa and across the continent.”

“We are excited about working more closely with the Firepay team and think that there is an excellent strategic fit between their capabilities and Standard Bank’s vision for a truly universal bank, both in South Africa and throughout the African continent,” said Wendy Pienaar, SBSA Head of Emerging Payments.“Firepay’s experienced team and industry know-how will be used to bolster Standard Bank’s emerging payments strategy,” she added.In addition to SnapScan, the Firepay team’s technology platform already enables payments for several clients, including WeChat and Masterpass.

“We are excited about working more closely with the Firepay team and think that there is an excellent strategic fit between their capabilities and Standard Bank’s vision for a truly universal bank, both in South Africa and throughout the African continent,” said Wendy Pienaar, SBSA Head of Emerging Payments.“Firepay’s experienced team and industry know-how will be used to bolster Standard Bank’s emerging payments strategy,” she added.In addition to SnapScan, the Firepay team’s technology platform already enables payments for several clients, including WeChat and Masterpass.

CEO of Jumo, Andrew Watkins-Ball, comments: “We have a proven business model, evidenced in the strategic partnerships we have built with forward-thinking banks, mobile money operators and partners like Uber."

Since launch in 2014, more than 10 million people have saved or borrowed on the Jumo platform, with nearly 70% of these being micro and small business owners across Africa and Asia. To date, the company has originated almost US$1 billion in loans and maintained savings growth of over 50% month-on-month on its platform, which manages over 45 million customer interactions per month.

Jumo currently has offices in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Zambia, Pakistan, United Kingdom, Singapore and South Africa. It set up its Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore earlier in the year and has plans to enter several new Asian markets in 2019.

Voda-Idea explores M&A for Vodafone M-Pesa

MUMBAI: Vodafone M-Pesa Ltd. (VMPL), the payments wallet owned by Vodafone Idea, is considering merging its business with an associate company or a third party, but in the interim, has applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for extension of its prepaid payment instrument (PPI) license.

The moves are prompted by the fact that Vodafone Idea - created by the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Group – holds 100% of Vodafone M-Pesa Ltd. (VMPL) besides 49% shareholding in Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Limited (ABIPBL).

JUMO reaches 15 million customers across Africa and Asia

JUMO has disbursed over USD 1.6 billion in funding and is growing its base of savings products. “By empowering MSMEs, we’re also positively impacting communities, families and employees. Technology is removing barriers to financial inclusion making it possible to responsibly provide everyone with access to good financial choices,” Watkins-Ball added.

“We are working to connect every entrepreneur to the financial products they need to grow and prosper,” says Watkins-Ball. “Our technology enables our partner banks and payments companies to help millions of underserved people access financial services.”

Key Features Fast and easy signup Simple integration Customers need not re-enter card details Customers scan on a desktop or click to pay on a mobile device Responsive and mobile friendly Payment happens onsite with a trusted mobile payment provider! Why choose SnapScan?SnapScan is the preferred way for South Africans to pay with their phones.You may know the app from your favorite weekend market or local coffee shop, but SnapScan also provides payment solutions for larger merchants. From payments and invoicing for Pathcare laboratories to online checkout for big brands like Superbalist, Spree and Wellness Warehouse, we have expanded rapidly, and our flat rate of 3% (incl. VAT) per transaction is highly competitive.How do I start using SnapScan?To get started with SnapScan, you need a merchant account. No mountains of paperwork! Just mail help@snapscan.co.za and we set you up in no time. The sign-up process takes 10 minutes maximum, then we send you all the information you need.Once a customer has paid, their order is automatically completed and the website updates. As a merchant, your order list displays confirmation of the SnapScan payment, and you can begin the delivery process.

SnapScan allows South African customers to check out quicker and more securely with a scan or tap via card details stored on their phone. Customers spend less time in checkout, and more time shopping!

Also, in its quest to become a digital bank, Carbon acquired a microfinance bank license. According to Dozie, the license means that Carbon’s customers are afforded additional protection through depositors’ insurance via the NDIC. The Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, a federal insurance agency, protects depositors and guarantees the settlement of insured funds when a financial institution can no longer repay their deposits. With that in place, Dozie says the typical Carbon wallet is now a full-fledged bank account, and customers can perform transactions on the platform as they would with any bank.Like Carbon, other startups on the continent have followed suit by releasing year-on-year metrics. In recent memory, most of these startups play in the fintech and crypto-exchange space. But Carbon remains unique amongst this crop of companies as it releases both transaction stats and real insights into its financial performance.Whereas transaction stats tend to highlight a seemingly explosive year-on-year growth of a company, a comprehensive view of financials will likely show a mixed performance. For instance, Carbon generated $17.5 million in revenue for FY2019, up 68% from 2018. For that same period, it recorded a 23% decrease in its profit after tax numbers, a 222% rise in total liabilities and 107% increase in assets finishing the year off with a 6% increase in total equity.It’ll be interesting to see what these numbers look like for 2020. But that’s not the only event to keep an eye on. In addition to its $10 million Series A from SA-based Net1 UEPS Technologies and a $5million debt financing in 2019 from Lendable, Dozie says the digital bank, which also has a presence in Kenya, is ramping efforts to raise a Series B round soon to consolidate its position on the continent.

In 2018, Carbon, a Nigerian fintech startup, made its financials public for the first time. Although typical for foreign private startups, it’s almost an anomaly in Africa. There have been rare cases in the past, for instance, when Rocket Internet had to include Jumia’s financials in its yearly reports after going public. At the time, the German investment outfit was a founding shareholder in the African-based unicorn.

Nigerian digital bank Carbon hit $240M in payments processed last year, up 89% from 2019

Susie Lonie and Nick Hughes are the people responsible for Kenya's M-Pesa mobile money transfer system. It allows people without bank accounts to transfer money quickly, easily and safely using their mobile phones, and has radically altered developing world economies. There are now nearly 100 similar systems in the developing world.The pair recently picked up an Economist Innovation award for the service.The BBC's Fiona Graham spoke to them about launching M-Pesa, how businesses have benefited from the service, and dowries.

M-Pesa permet aux détenteurs de mobiles d’effectuer toutes sortes d’achats en un claquement de doigts. Qu’il s’agisse de régler ses factures d’électricité, de rembourser ses frais de scolarité, de réserver des billets d’avions ou tickets de bus ou encore de faire ses emplettes alimentaires, M-Pesa est aujourd’hui devenu un acteur économique incontournable au Kenya depuis sa création en 2007

M-Pesa, joyau de l’opérateur national kényan Safaricom (détenu à 40% par Vodafone), regarde maintenant vers les marchés du Nord, et notamment vers l’Europe de l’Est, à commencer par la Roumanie : pays où la grande majorité de la population est connectée (possède au moins un téléphone mobile) mais pas totalement bancarisée.

Vodacom’s joint M-Pesa/Safaricom platform boosts monthly transactions to $20bn

This is the outcome of free peer-to-peer M-Pesa transactions, a feature introduced at the onset of COVID-19, the South African network operator said in its latest update to the market on its interim results for the six months that ended on 30 September 2020.

The M-Pesa initiative supported rapid platform growth and customer adoption of digital channels “to the point where the M-Pesa ecosystem now processes $20.5bn a month in transactions across our international markets, including Safaricom, and contributed R8bn in revenue in the period.”

Mobile money transfer: ‘Ethiopia hasn’t shut the door to M-Pesa’

In April, while the Kenyan telecoms giant Safaricom was in talks with the Ethiopian authorities to launch its M-Pesa app, the country’s central bank, the National Bank of Ethiopia, decided to only allow locally-owned non-financial institutions to offer mobile money services.

So, we didn’t shut the door to M-Pesa. Instead, we’ve asked them to partner with an Ethiopian bank.