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For the first time in Egypt, MasterCard Worldwide has teamed up with Fawry, the nationwide Electronic Bill Payment and Presentment (EBPP) network, to launch MasterCard Bill Pay services to enable MasterCard cardholders to use their cards for bill payments and mobile top-up via Fawry’s retail network. MasterCard cardholders can now settle their Internet, mobile and fixed line bills and also utilize the top-up payment services through Fawry-MasterCard enabled retail locations across Egypt.

For the first time in Egypt, MasterCard Worldwide has teamed up with Fawry, the nationwide Electronic Bill Payment and Presentment (EBPP) network, to launch MasterCard Bill Pay services to enable MasterCard cardholders to use their cards for bill payments and mobile top-up via Fawry’s retail network. MasterCard cardholders can now settle their Internet, mobile and fixed line bills and also utilize the top-up payment services through Fawry-MasterCard enabled retail locations across Egypt.

For the first time in Egypt, MasterCard Worldwide has teamed up with Fawry, the nationwide Electronic Bill Payment and Presentment (EBPP) network, to launch MasterCard Bill Pay services to enable MasterCard cardholders to use their cards for bill payments and mobile top-up via Fawry’s retail network. MasterCard cardholders can now settle their Internet, mobile and fixed line bills and also utilize the top-up payment services through Fawry-MasterCard enabled retail locations across Egypt.

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.

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.

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.  

WorldRemit is a leading digital cross-border payments business. We disrupted an industry previously dominated by offline legacy players by taking international money transfers online—making them safer, faster, and lower-cost. We currently send from 50 to 150 countries, operate in 6,500 money transfer corridors worldwide, and employ over 1,100 people globally.On the sending side WorldRemit is 100% digital (cashless), increasing convenience and enhancing security. For those receiving money, the company offers a wide range of options including bank deposit, cash collection, mobile airtime top-up, and mobile money.

Backed by Accel, TCV, and Leapfrog—WorldRemit’s headquarters are in London, United Kingdom with regional offices in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Africa, Somaliland, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Belgium.

TPAY MOBILE makes it easy for digital service providers to access over 600 million customers and accept payments across MEA and Turkey. Through one simple API integration, TPAY MOBILE’s full service mobile payment platform enables rapid business growth and drives financial inclusion.

Worldwide, women have much less economic opportunity, security, and freedom. Support women starting their own businesses, going to school, and investing in the health of their communities and families.

Over 2.5 billion of the world’s adults remain unbanked and have no access to formal banking or semiformal microfinance institutions according to a report by McKinsey.

Pula Advisors, a fintech firm reimagining agricultural insurance to protect smallholders worldwide, with operations in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Malawi has partnered with the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) to deploy satellite-based agricultural insurance to smallholder farmers in Nigeria who are estimated to be around 18 million. With the partnership, Pula will install satellite technology to track a wide range of catastrophes cost effectively, at speed and without missing out on any areas.

“We hope that the high-quality yield and satellite data available today will enable local insurers and Pula Advisors to create an innovative yield predictive model that decreases the cost of area yield index insurance. At the end of the day, we want to make this product more accessible to smallholder families, allowing them to invest with more confidence and increase their yields,” said Emilio Hernandez, who leads CGAP’s work with smallholders.

MTN Mobile Money (MoMo) subscribers in Cameroon can now receive international money transfers through MoneyGram directly into their mobile wallets

Paga account holders will now be able to transact on Visa’s global network. Both companies will work together to develop technology and aim to drive larger payments volumes for both companies. The partnership also reflects Visa’s priorities in Africa.

Paga account holders will now be able to transact on Visa’s global network. Both companies will work together to develop technology and aim to drive larger payments volumes for both companies. The partnership also reflects Visa’s priorities in Africa.

At JUMO we connect people to opportunities. Two billion people worldwide have limited access to formal financial services such as borrowing and saving. We’ve built a large-scale, multi-sided technology platform and designed progressive financial choices to reach them. We use their digital footprint to create a financial identity using only behavioural data.

The policies or “smart contracts” currently under development are based on blockchain, the distributed ledger technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. This avoids the need for paperwork and means payouts can be triggered automatically when certain conditions are met, such as a specific number of days of drought. The system uses high-resolution satellite images to detect rainfall and plant growth data.Conventional crop insurance is too expensive for more than 500m small farmers worldwide, says Christopher Sheehan, founder and chief executive of US-based WorldCover, which developed the system. “But with machine learning and blockchain technology, we can process these data very cheaply to produce a really simple crop insurance product with premiums of $20 to $50 for a farmer who might only be earning $3,000 a year.” Payments can be made using mobile money transfer services such as M-Pesa.

Kiva is a non-profit lending platform well known for its microloan service targeted underserved markets globally. Lendio states that the program has now provided over $500,000 in microloans to business owners worldwide, 98% of whom are female. Lendio first launched the program in 2016. The company describes the program as part of its commitment to entrepreneurship and inclusivity. Lendio provides a microloan to a low-income entrepreneur for every new loan facilitated on its marketplace platform. This voluntary employee-contributed, employer-matched program reports a 94% participation rate among Lendio employees.

The online equity investment platform has reached a tipping point, with more than 150-thousand active users. Purple Group has reported a strong rise in first-half earnings as its EasyEquities online investment and trading platform reached tipping point. The fintech group owns 70% of EasyEquities and Sanlam Investments holds the remaining 30%.

The next six months will, no doubt, prove to be unpredictable. In many ways perhaps some of the toughest months experienced in the investment world in decades lie ahead with the world economy in unchartered waters," Purple Group said. "But that suits us just fine. Firm in the knowledge that we simply must, every minute of every day, be there for our partners and clients on their financial journey."

EasyEquities grew revenue by 140% to R28.6 million in the six months to end-February as the number of funded retail investment accounts more than doubled to 199,491. The platform generated a R76,000 profit for the period from a R12.4 million loss previously. Platform assets quadrupled to R15.8 billion.

Cloud computing allows financial institutions to optimize IT resources and remove development constraints based on IT’s capacity to deliver (Cofran, 2011, p. 1). Financial institutions can respond faster to needs of customers by reducing development cycles for new products and scale products as needed because of the flexibility of the cloud (Sriram, 2011, p. 4). Furthermore, cloud computing helps financial institutions standardize applications and infrastructures which simplify the overall enterprise architecture. According to Courbe (2013), having a common infrastructure already in place worldwide enables a system to serve customers more efficiently and effectively globally.

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.

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. 

At Pula, we are radically restructuring agricultural insurance, using technology to insure the previously unbanked, uninsured, untapped market of 1.5 billion smallholders worldwide. We work in nine countries across Africa and Asia, and in 2017 alone, we facilitated crop and livestock insurance cover to 611,000 farmers in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Malawi.

Pula uses satellite data and farm yield measurements to understand how weather patterns affect a smallholder farmer’s yield, and uses this information to automate compensation in case of loss. The company also provides farmers with targeted agronomic advice via SMS messaging, helping them grow more from their existing landholdings.

Insurtech startup Pula announced today that it has closed a seed funding round to advance its efforts to provide insurance to smallholder farmers in Africa and South Asia.

SnapScan is more than just a smartphone app. It’s a contactless mobile payment solution that makes it easy and safe to pay and receive payments in a store, online, at home, and on the go. No need for cards, cash, or time-consuming EFTs – just simple payments in a snap!

SnapScan is more than just a smartphone app. It’s a contactless mobile payment solution that makes it easy and safe to pay and receive payments in a store, online, at home, and on the go. No need for cards, cash, or time-consuming EFTs – just simple payments in a snap!

SnapScan is more than just a smartphone app. It’s a contactless mobile payment solution that makes it easy and safe to pay and receive payments in a store, online, at home, and on the go. No need for cards, cash, or time-consuming EFTs