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According to the World Bank, Ghana is the fastest-growing mobile-money market in Africa. Mobile operators MTN, AirtelTigo and Vodafone currently lead the industry. Banks are pushing digital banking in Ghana, but with less success, according to a report from Tellimer in September. Banks such as Ecobank, Fidelity, Zenith and Standard Chartered can use Ghana’s improving digital infrastructure to widen inclusion, Tellimer says. But the firms points to downside for banks through possible loss of deposits and lower margins on digital products due to the competition. Mobile money may lead to the “cannibalisation” of some banking products, Tellimer says. “Banks will have to fight for transactions and deposits.”

MTN is the dominant player with about 90% of mobile money transactions.

It will take other players a “lot of marketing and effort or very innovative strategies” to compete with MTN,

Consumer research shows that financial insecurity is at an all time high. WorldRemit is working tirelessly to increase transparency and support users by providing easy access to financial services. With WorldRemit’s proprietary technology, each user can now track the money they have been sent, giving them added peace of mind at a time when they need it most.

WorldRemit is one of the first companies in the global payments industry to launch a Transfer Tracker app exclusively with recipients in mind. The digital payments company allows senders in 50 countries to send money via the app or website to recipients in over 150 countries and can choose from multiple payout methods including bank deposits, mobile wallets, mobile airtime top-up and cash pick-up.

MTN Mobile Money (MoMo) subscribers in Cameroon can now receive international money transfers through MoneyGram directly into their mobile wallets. This is thanks to a recent partnership between MoneyGram and MFS Africa, which extends the inbound international money transfer service to MTN MoMo payment accounts on new channels.

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.

What to watch out forMaximum daily limits. Transaction limits depend on how you are sending the money, while a total 24-hour cap of $9,000 applies to all transactions being sent by you out of the US.Changing fees. Depending on where you are sending to, how you are paying and how you are transferring money, your fees may vary. Although a base fee of $3.99 is applied to most transfers, keep an eye on this category when actually completing your transfer to make sure it doesn’t change.No hedging options. WorldRemit only offers one-off transfers, unlike some of its competitors that offer additional tools to help you save money. Hedging tools are most often used to lock in an exchange rate, helping you save money on future transfers if the market shifts against your position.Inconsistent markups. Exchange rates vary through WorldRemit and depend not only on the currency you are sending to but also on the destination country. Expect mid-market markups anywhere from 1-4%.

Easy-to-use website. Signing up and sending money can be done in as little as a few minutes, and support can be accessed through phone, email, live chat and FAQs.Worldwide network. Customers in more than 50 countries can send funds to over 150 countries using a variety of methods, including bank transfers, cash pickup at thousands of locations, door-to-door delivery, delivery to services like Alipay and more.Flexible payment options. Pay with a credit or debit card, from your bank account, through Apple or Google Pay and even with prepaid cards.Fast transfers. Cash pickups, WorldRemit Wallet transfers and airtime top-ups are typically available instantly after sending, while mobile money and bank deposits may take one or more business days to process.

Cash pickups, WorldRemit Wallet transfers and airtime top-ups are typically available instantly after sending, while mobile money and bank deposits may take one or more business days to process.

A consortium of international financial investors comprising the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund (“EAEF”), Helios Investment Partners (“Helios”, acting on behalf of funds it advises) and the MENA Long-Term Value Fund (“MENA LTV”) (together, the “Consortium”) today announced it has acquired a majority stake in Fawry, the leading electronic bill presentment and payment platform in Egypt at a purchase price valuing the company at EGP 773 million, approximately US$ 100 million.Headquartered in Cairo, Fawry provides users with a secure electronic bill presentment and payment services solution, connecting consumers, merchants, governments and financial institutions on a consolidated gateway that is accessible through multiple channels, including Point of Sale (POS) machines, ATMs, post offices, online and through mobile wallets.  Since its establishment in 2009, Fawry has been at the forefront of electronic payments in Egypt, providing pioneering, innovative and convenient payment solutions to its customers. The company today processes over one million transactions a day and operates a network of over 50,000 collection points in 300 cities and suburbs across the country.

Through the digital platforms, Prime Bank aims to make available a one stop solution to its customers in terms of funds transfer. With the inclusion of SimbaPay, the customers will be able to send money to friends and family across the world using their mobile phones.

To access the service, customers will need to login to the bank’s mobile banking app – PrimeMobi, then click on International Money Transfer icon on the homescreen. After confirming the amount to be sent, the sender’s bank account will be debited, and money credited to the beneficiary instantly.

Paga is a mobile payment company. We are building an ecosystem to enable people to digitally send and receive money, and creating simple financial access for everyone.

Banked or unbanked, online or offline Paga offers you a central place for simple money transfers.

SnapScan is a mobile payments app, providing South Africans with the most convenient way to pay with their phones. The app was named MTN App of the Year in 2013, and now boasts a network of over 50 000 merchants nationwide, with one million app downloads to date. SnapScan is an easy, affordable and convenient way for merchants to accept payments; as well as a safe, secure and seamless payment option for users. SnapScan combines the agility and speed of a small local startup with the industry knowledge and experience of Standard Bank, Africas biggest bank. As a team, we love solving difficult problems, especially when it comes to making fast, easy mobile payments possible!SnapScan is a product of FireID Payments, part of the FireID group, a set of local startups building elegant solutions to a wide range of difficult and interesting problems.

SnapScan combines the agility and speed of a small local startup with the industry knowledge and experience of Standard Bank, Africas biggest bank. As a team, we love solving difficult problems, especially when it comes to making fast, easy mobile payments possible!SnapScan is a product of FireID Payments, part of the FireID group, a set of local startups building elegant solutions to a wide range of difficult and interesting problems.

SnapScan is a mobile payments app, providing South Africans with the most convenient way to pay with their phones.

Start-up basée à Cape Town en Afrique du Sud, JUMO propose à ses clients de souscrire à des prêts et des produits d’épargne depuis leur téléphone portable.

Start-up basée à Cape Town en Afrique du Sud, JUMO propose à ses clients de souscrire à des prêts et des produits d’épargne depuis leur téléphone portable.

AgroCenta provides an end-to-end solution for smallholder farmers in the post-harvest value chain from farm to market, leveraging on technology to create impact. AgroCenta's services include a market linkage platform (AgroTrade) linking farmers directly to buyers and removing exploitative buying, TruckR which is an on-demand trucks and logistics services (uber for trucks), AgroPay which is a financial inclusion plaform for the rural unbanked smallholder farmer.

Since its inception, about 7.5 million customers have used the platform to either save or source credit. Of this number, about 75% are small business owners. All eyes will be watching to see what big deals come next this year for Jumo.

Jumo facilitates digital financial services such as credit and savings in emerging markets. The startup, founded in 2014 by Watkins-Ball is already active in seven African countries — South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia, as well as in Pakistan and Singapore.

Last year, the Cape Town-based fintech startup became the first South African startup to be selected by Google for its Launchpad accelerator. Since its inception in January 2015 to April 2017, the company has grown from just seven to 300 employees.

EthSwitch has an objective to work as international gateway for all banks. When the project is fully completed, over 50 e-Payment products and services will be supported in EthSwitch covering card delivery channels like ATM, POS, mobile, internet, and voice. EthioPay is the brand given to the National e-Payment Switch of Ethiopia.

Amongst the future activities is to include mobile as part of the financial inclusion policy. Another active area is the recent launch of the domestic card called EthioPay. Across a national population of 100 million, there are 2.5 million card holders and 40 million mobile users. Sufficient opportunity for Bekele and his team in the time to come.

Since May this year the number of inter-bank transactions has been growing. This is expected to increase as the Ethiopian population becomes aware of the interoperability and ease of use of using cards in any bank’s ATM machine. Along the way there have been some transactions declines due to connectivity failures and those limitations are being addressed

The Smartel Money customers and services include retail banking, individuals, insurance agents, retail grocery, retail clothing, retail cell phone services and utility services among others. These include checkout services such as the Smartel Money Point of sales system (sPOS); the Smartel Money Mobile point of sales systems (smPOS). These systems have access to the Smartel Money central engine for processing payments. “Businesses owners can finally give true convenience to customers by using My Wallet as a contactless payment option. They can also take advantage of our free business tools which include, point of sale, human resource management, and customer relationship management,” Mr Nchai said.

Machine learning is a critical component of this process, as it allows us to enhance our predictive ability to better identify these qualifying customers. As a result, we are making significant strides towards our goal of creating the world’s leanest and lowest-cost banking infrastructure. This helps our bank partners offer loans at the lowest possible rate, and it helps our customers to achieve higher-yield savings. We’ve proven that our model works. Twelve million customers in Africa and Asia have saved or borrowed on the JUMO platform, and roughly 70% of these customers are micro and small businesses. We’re incredibly proud of our progress so far – but we know there’s more we can do.

To test our approach, we looked at Ghana, running new and advanced machine learning algorithms on signals associated with a pool of lending applicants. The goal was to identify combinations of signals — from income size and deposit frequency to mobile phone battery life and mobile wallet transaction patterns — that would serve as more accurate indicators of likely fraud than existing models.

the popular mobile money transfer program, came to be in Kenya. It’s narrated by Michael Joseph, the managing director of mobile money at Vodafone and the program’s founder.

The animation was produced as part of a series of online courses designed and delivered by the USAID Mobile Solutions Team, QED, and TechChange, a DC-based organization that specializes in online training for international development.