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Cash Still Trumps Mobile Payments and Bitcoin in Africa
According to the World Bank’s Global Financial Inclusion Index, Africa has the highest mobile money adoption rate in the world. Worldwide, only 2 percent of the population possesses a mobile money account; in Africa, 12 percent of the population uses mobile money.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Telcos to bankroll Zimbabwe’s Health Fund
Zimbabwe telecommunications companies are in for another fiscal whammy - a new 5 cents levy on every US$1 worth of airtime and data top ups which will go into a Health Fund to resource the country's ailing health delivery sector.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Mobile wallet firms see positive impact from new authentication rule in India
The removal of two-factor authentication for card transactions below Rs2,000 has made it easier for credit and debit card users, but digital wallets do not have much to worry from the change, industry executives and analysts said.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Stellar Partners ICICI Bank, Enables Blockchain Money Transfers in India, Africa and Philippines
Stellar, the open blockchain platform and non-profit payment protocol has unveiled a slew of new partners including, notably, India’s largest private bank by consolidated assets ICICI, to bring low-cost, near instantaneous remittance solutions in India, the Philippines, Africa and Europe.
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- blockchain, fintech, remittances
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Cash transactions surge at Indian microfinance firms after note ban
Restrictions on cash withdrawals have had the perverse effect of boosting cash transactions in microfinance companies. Microlenders are hoarding cash received in repayments and then disbursing it to customers directly rather than depositing it into bank accounts, officials of at least three firms said.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Paytm to merge its mobile wallet service with its payments bank in India
One 97 Communications, the parent company of digital payments provider Paytm is preparing to merge its wallet service with the eponymous payments bank-- the licence for which is owned by its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma— once it receives regulatory approval.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Grameen Foundation lndia Launches G-LEAP e-Learning App
Grameen Foundation India, a technical services provider dedicated to advancing financial inclusion, launched Grameen Learning Program (G-LEAP), a first of its kind e-learning app for microfinance institutions which enables any-time, any-where learning. Powered by Handytrain, the app will help organizations train frontline microfinance staff and agents quickly and cost-effectively, anywhere and at anytime.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Indians Skipping Plastic Money, Leapfrogging to Mobile Wallets
Unlike the West, Japan and China, which slowly graduated from landline to cordless to cellular telephony and from cash to plastic to mobile payments mode, India has virtually skipped the intermediate stages — cordless telephones and plastic money — of this technological revolution and jumped into cellular telephony and digital banking transaction.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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