Spring 21 Capstone 640pm

As early as 2016, established banking and mobile phone companies were competing alongside specialist start-ups to become leaders in fintech, especially in Africa.In November last year, Nairobi-headquartered Prime Bank launched an international money transfer service in collaboration with London-headquartered SimbaPay, giving Prime Bank customers in Kenya access to mobile payments.

FarmDrive generates real-time credit reports for smallholder farmers, allowing them to access loans. Their proprietary platform collects traditional and alternative data points like revenue and satellite imaging to create detailed yield estimates and assess credit risk and then delivers loans via mobile money. As a result, farmers can increase their crop yields, improve their incomes and invest their additional revenue back into their families and communities.

Jamiipay has been a part of the Accelerace accelerator program, that help startup companies accelerate and scale up their business model and finetune their companies. Jamiipay is one of more than 500 companies that Accelerace already have accelerated.

Thndr is aiming to build a Robinhood for the Middle East, helping users invest in stock, bonds and funds commission-free via the company’s free app. Robinhood has taken the US exchanges by storm, but the trend hasn’t hit investors in the Middle East; Thndr is aiming to replicate their success with investors there.

More than seven million Kenyan customers and businesses can now transfer money internationally through SimbaPay Family Bank, a leading financial institution in Kenya, has partnered with SimbaPay so that its customers can make instant money transfers to China

At Thndr we believe that everyone should have access to financial services and that means access to different products that can make your money work for you.  That’s why we’ve partnered up with Azimut, one of Europe’s leading independent asset managers to bring you the new Egypt-focused fixed income mutual fund AZ-Savings. AZ Savings is one of the first funds of its kind, where you can invest in daily certificates that you can redeem weekly—no more liquidity worries.

Simbapay is an Africa-focused money transfer startup that lets customers send money to friends and family around Africa in a fast, seamless, and cheap way.Platforms: Android and IOSCountries serving: All African countriesTransfer fees: Yes, but you can send up to £45,000 for free

One of the greatest challenges we face working in rural areas of Africa is the lack of infrastructure and access to technology.

We started Bismart as an online comparison platform that creates trasparency in the insurance Industry by allowing customers to compare benefits and price and chose insurance based on information. Through data analytics, we learnt that the new and non-traditional customer/ the digital and mobile customer has unique preference for processes and products.

We started Bismart as an online comparison platform that creates trasparency in the insurance Industry by allowing customers to compare benefits and price and chose insurance based on information. Through data analytics, we learnt that the new and non-traditional customer/ the digital and mobile customer has unique preference for processes and products.

This is not the first cross border transfer initiative by SimbaPay. The London-based company supports more cost-effective and efficient transfer of funds across Africa and Asia (11 countries – 9 African, 2 Asian). These are Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Ghana, Madagascar, Niger, India and now China.

SimbaPay developed a third-party payment aggregator that enables funds delivery between Kenyan merchants and their largest source of imports, China. Through SimbaPay’s international money transfer service, merchants and individuals in Kenya would be able to send money to China’s WeChat Pay users from Family Bank’s PesaPap mobile banking application. This can be achieved through M-Pesa and a USSD service

Bismart is a leading Kenyan insurance aggregator. We leverage on digital platforms and technologies which enables us to connect our clients to the best insurance and investments solutions available in the market. Most importantly we provide our clients with education and information; this irrevocably gives power to the client to freely decide on the best premier insurance and /or investment solution to stick with. And all this in front of their computer screen or smartphone.Insurance is just a click away...Be smart, Buy smart.

We leverage on digital platforms and technologies which enables us to connect our clients to the best insurance and investments solutions available in the market.

Moving forward, banks are now able to partner with fintech startups with ease. Most noteworthy, startups are developing as cloud-native from the very start. The global fintech market size expects to grow to $124.3 billion USD by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 23.84%

As an increasing number of businesses make the move to adopt a digital payment system, the demand for fintech solutions is only expected to grow and drive market growth.

The partnership between Family Bank Limited and London-based financial technology firm SimbaPay will enable the 23,946,174 active M-Pesa users in Kenya to send money to over 1 billion active WeChat subscribers in China.

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:

Aujourd’hui plus de 3 000 agriculteurs sont inscrits sur la plate-forme mobile. En 2016, en travaillant avec un partenaire financier, FarmDrive a permis d’attribuer environ $130 000 de prêts à 400 agriculteurs.

With Apple introducing the biometrics technologies like Fingerprint identification and now facial recognition on its latest X series phones, biometrics is not only a day-to-day part of consumers’ lifestyles but also opening a whole new doors to biometrics industries and consumers’ financial operating methods.Companies like FIDO Alliance pulling out all the stops to make the biometrics systems standardized and more secured introduces the world to the new era of FinTech with easier, secured and adaptable approach of Biometrics Finances.

The tiresome process of entering long and complicated passwords and initials at every transaction along with the risk of compromising the security of the consumers’ accounts played a major role in accepting the Facial Recognition, Fingerprint scanner, IRIS Sensor and Voice recognition as a method of authentication at a Banking sector. 

Fintech marketing is the sum of marketing techniques specifically tailored for financial technology (‘fintech’) companies. These companies are using new technologies to improve, and ultimately, automate, the delivery and use of financial services to consumers.

Financial services are rather dull, matter of fact aspects of our day to day life. In other words, dealing with personal finances is something we all have to do. But let’s be clear - no one will come to you with a big smile on their face and scream: “Oh my God, I had such an amazing experience opening a new savings account today.” That said, while financial technologies are boring, it doesn’t mean your marketing style should be boring as well.

the MFSA published a Consultation Document proposing to (i) launch a FinTech Regulatory Sandbox, (ii) set up a framework for the regulatory certification of RegTech solutions, while also encouraging persons developing SupTech solutions to approach the Authority through a dedicated online form, and (iii) provide a status update on the other strategic objectives presented under Pillar 1 of the FinTech Strategy

MFSA FinTech Strategy Overview The MFSA aims to establish the foundations to enable FinTech start-ups and  scale-ups, technology firms and established financial services providers to develop viable FinTech solutions which drive innovation and enhance access to financial products, increase competition whilst promoting market integrity, deliver better customer experiences, and ultimately, contribute to the long- term success of the Maltese financial services sector.

The MFSA FinTech Strategy proposes to set out six pillars for the MFSA to create a holistic long-term approach to catalyse innovation, growth and competition in the financial services sector, whilst ensuring robust investor protection, market integrity and financial soundness.