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Kenya mobile phone firms to offer cross-network cash transfers
Subscribers of Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom will be able to transfer and receive cash from one mobile network to another, the companies said in a joint statement published in the Business Daily newspaper.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Study shows Kenyans’ soaring appetite for mobile loans
Mobile loans have become the largest source of credit for Kenyans besides family and friends, signalling the growing allure of financial technology (fintech) services in the country.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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First Digital-Only Bank in Ivory Coast Launches
Ivory Coast has the fifth highest percentage of adults with mobile money accounts in the world.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Asian Development Bank Report Looks at Impact of Digital Technologies on Remittances
Governments and international organisations can help create an enabling environment in digital finance to improve the remittance process and also have positive externalities such as financial inclusion.
- Categories
- Finance
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IFC and VCs Want To Take Emerging Market Microfinance To Mobile
The developing world needs more fintech companies to extend financial inclusion to consumers and small businesses who aren't being served by existing banks. That's the thinking behind several venture capital firms which are working with the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
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Can Tech Humanize Microfinance? An Unexpected Benefit of Going Digital
Shuffling through papers while standing at a pho vendor’s street stall. Asking customers the same questions over and over again every loan cycle. CEP’s staff and clients constantly dealt with such frustrations until the Vietnam-based microfinance institution rolled out an app that digitized the loan and repayment process. Laura Cojocaru and Kelly Nguyen of BFA report on how the technology not only saves time, but helps loan officers connect on a more personal level with clients.
- Categories
- Finance
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How mobile loan platforms have lured Kenyans into debt trap
Just as a sluggish economy in which exports have underperformed has forced Kenya to arrange for another credit to settle a loan that was maturing, tough economic times such as poor business performance, lay-offs, or delayed salary have seen digital borrowers struggle to repay their loans.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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How an African startup built a bitcoin network while crypto’s reputation crumbled
When jobs in banking dried up after the global economic crash in 2008, Elizabeth Rossiello went to work in Africa at several microfinance operations, where she saw firsthand how Kenya’s recently launched M-Pesa mobile money service was transforming payments. Then, Rossiello heard that cryptocurrencies would be the next big thing. In 2013 she founded BitPesa, a digital foreign exchange and payments platform based in Nairobi.
- Categories
- Finance
- Tags
- cryptocurrency
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