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Viewpoint: Why Airtel, Telkom marriage rests on thin foundation
In a joint statement announcing the agreement last week, the companies said the merger excluded Telkom Kenya’s vast land holding, as well as some of its business agreements that include lucrative contracts to provide the government with network infrastructure and connectivity services.
- Categories
- Finance, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Telkom Kenya, Airtel seek merger to challenge Safaricom
Bharti Airtel’s Kenyan unit has agreed to combine operations with Telkom Kenya, creating the second-largest telecommunications operator in the East African nation after Safaricom.
- Categories
- Finance, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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How Kenya’s M-Akiba App Can Teach Nigeria a Lot About Financial Inclusion
The Kenyan government recently announced that it would sell around $2.5 million worth of treasury bills through M-Akiba.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Global Findex Database Shows We Can’t Meet the SDGs Without Financial Inclusion
For nearly a decade, Leora Klapper has led the World Bank’s Global Findex database – a survey of how people in more than 150 countries access and use financial services. While academic studies continue to show how financial inclusion underpins and enables social progress, to create a financially inclusive world we need to continually measure the scope and depth of the problem, Klapper argues. That means asking: Who still needs accounts? Who has accounts, but doesn’t use them? And what more can we do to help?
- Categories
- Finance
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Financial inclusion takes stage at massive blockchain hackathon
Financial inclusion and security will be one of the challenges at what is being billed as the world's largest blockchain and AI hackathon, taking place in the Netherlands this April.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
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The Chinese New Year is a mobile cash bonanza
Baidu, known as China’s Google, offered a whopping 900 million yuan ($133 million) in cash prizes on Lunar New Year eve. The search giant partnered with CCTV New Year’s Gala, the most watched entertainment show in the world.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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The Promise of Psychometric-Based Credit Scoring in Financial Inclusion
Many lenders are using alternative data to improve their credit models and better serve the underbanked. But though this data is usually finance related, non-financial data can also be uniquely useful in reaching new customers, says Innovative Assessments CEO Saul Fine. He explores how psychometric testing can provide insights into the personal character traits that define reliable borrowers, and how this can help lenders maintain good loan performance – while serving customers whose traditional credit histories might otherwise exclude them.
- Categories
- Finance
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Globacom set for Nigeria mobile money launch
The service can be used on smartphones or basic handsets and, the company said, will require fewer details to register than traditional bank accounts.
- Categories
- Finance, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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