Spring 21 Capstone 640pm

That’s how mobile money accounts first came about. Mobile money apps don’t require a brick-and-mortar bank, but they otherwise end up functioning a lot like a bank account and debit card would for an American — meaning your average person in Kenya with such an account now has access to most of the same financial services a person in the US does. Mobile money got off the ground early in the developing world, where people used texting-based services before smartphones became common. There were early attempts to set up such systems in the 2000s in South Africa and the Philippines. But the breakthrough was the extraordinary early success of Kenya’s M-Pesa, which actually predates apps like Venmo. (“Pesa” is Swahili for money; the “M” stands for “mobile.”) The project that became M-Pesa started in 2002 when phone companies noticed that they had unintentionally invented something that almost resembled a currency.

Financial Services firms may be unaware that their disruption responses are often hindered by internal bias or superficial analysis. That is, Fintechs may not be completely redefining an industry, product, or experience, but rather innovating in certain areas of high-perceived customer value: CX innovation – ease of use and/or reducing friction or increasing speed of the purchase process Product innovation – editing product features or modifications or reducing cost Market innovation – creating entirely new experiences or approaches for solving customer issues

FarmDrive (FD), a Kenyan startup set to unlock millions of dollars in loans for smallholder farmers in Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa, received a follow-on investment from EWB Canada last month, with participation from AK IMPACT INVESTORS, 1 to 4 Foundation, ADAP SEED FUND 2 and The Lakes Charitable Foundation.

Online money transfer providers typically offer the strongest exchange rates and lowest fees on money transfers to Lebanon.

Fawry For Banking Technology And Electronic Payment is engaged in providing electronic payment services in Egypt. It offers ways to pay bills and other services in multiple channels like online, using ATMs, mobile wallets and retail points. The firm's network of retailers includes small groceries, pharmacies, stationary, and post-offices among others.

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.

SimbaPay is a UK-based digital money transfer service serving Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Ghana that delivers money via existing mobile money wallet services and using its SimbaPay app. Simbapay and Kenya’s Family Bank recently launched an instant payment service from East Africa to China. Users can send funds to China through Family Bank’s PesaPap app or Safaricom’s M-Pesa.

Founded in 2009, Paga offers digital bank services (peer-to-peer money transfer, bill payments, online payments, and payroll), achieving a wide reach in Nigeria.

Financial intermediation and financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa remain low, despite progress in recent years. Helped by reforms, the depth and coverage of financial systems in sub-Saharan Africa—as measured by the standard indicators of financial development, such as the ratios of private sector credit to GDP and broad money to GDP—have significantly improved over the period 1995 to 2013 (Kasekende 2010). However, on average, countries in sub-Saharan Africa continue to have a shallower financial system than those in other developing regions of the world (Figure 1). In terms of financial inclusion, only 20 percent of the population has a bank account compared to 92 percent in advanced economies and 38 percent in nonadvanced economies (Table 1). Underinvestment, poor infrastructure, and comparatively low levels of financial literacy have contributed to the region being underbanked.

The probability that a customer would incur financial losses in financial transactions conducted using Fintech is referred to as financial risk particularly when these losses would have been avoided if the same transactions had been conducted on a conventional platform (Keong et al., 2020; Razzaque et al., 2020). Financial risk can also be incurred by the financial service provider thereby distorting the operating budget of the firm. An example of a financial loss according to Khalil and Alam (2020) is when the process of launching a Fintech service has taken a longer time than planned thereby translating to an increase in the total cost of implementation. The prevalence of financial risk has heightened due to the nature of digital technology employed by Fintech, which could lead to recurrence in financial losses driven by electronic fraud (e-fraud) (Keong et al., 2020). These authors also listed other causes or drivers of financial risk as factors related to budgetary exchange framework, currency misrepresentation, and additional exchange fees that accompany the preferred value. 

Also by making payments through encrypted one-time token information, information is not exposed externally and by supporting a separate Secure Element (SE) that can independently and securely store sensitive information, security was improved.

WorldRemit charges you a transfer fee on each transaction, which depends on the currency you are sending, the amount and the delivery option.

M-PESA Kenya is an electronic mobile money service that allows you to store, send and receive money on your mobile phone. With an M-PESA account, you can transfer cash and shop for products and services. You can also withdraw cash by visiting an agent (typically in a corner shop) or transfer it to others from your phone. This makes it a quick, safe and simple way to make payments and handle money.

M-PESA is a virtual banking system (mobile money service) that offers transaction services through a SIM card on a mobile phone. In Kenya this must be with a Safaricom SIM card. The SIM card is inserted into the card slot of the mobile device and users can receive and store money, as well as make payments and transfer money to vendors and family members using SMS messages.

Fintech services, with 84% affirming their awareness of Fintech (compared to 62% in 2015). Nigeria has witnessed an increase in Fintech innovation and utilization.

ow fees and our best exchange rates up front, with no hidden costs

We use industry-leading technology that protects your money and guarantees it arrives safely every time.

See our low fees and our best exchange rates up front, with no hidden costs

In the last decade, the impact of financial technology (fintech) on Africa's financial sector and other key sectors has been phenomenal. As a key driver of growth in the region, fintech is a viable alternative to traditional banking in urban and rural areas. In Africa, fintech creates an enabling environment that opens up the financial sector's value chain and promotes efficiency gains

The discussion in this section is centered around mobile money and mobile financial services. These terms are not meant to exclude digital payments and digital finance from the discussion. While a systematic distinction between the terms – that are often used interchangeably in the literature, with ‘digital’, however, referring to the end user requiring access to digital devices (as opposed to a simple text-based mobile phone) – can be useful, as generally speaking access to the internet enhances possibilities [17••], we instead explicitly mention the role of the internet wherever access is critical, as most of the services outlined below (or at least some equivalents) are accessible without internet. This point has to be evaluated positively in terms of accessibility.

Our new cash pick up service in Lebanon will allow people in the diaspora to send money to be collected as cash at trusted, dependable financial brands back home.”

SimbaPay (http://www.SimbaPay.com) is revolutionizing the remittance space through its official announcement of raising the single transaction limit to a whopping $45,000. This is substantially higher than the previous transaction limit of $3,000. According to Victor Karanja, Head of Operations at SimbaPay, sending money home and buying property across Africa has just become a whole lot easier. “A pain point for customers in the past has been having to undertake multiple transfers to complete a single purchase.” “A key risk with multiple transfers was exchange rate fluctuation. Sending up to $45,000 with just our mobile app will protect senders from the fluctuation that arises when one splits up the transfer,” said Karanja.

Women constitute the majority of remittance recipients globally and remittances have an impact on both women’s actual income as well as on social norms