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Savings-Led Digital Finance: The Dawn of a New Era?
The digital lending market surpassed $300 billion in 2020, with significant growth among emerging markets customers who access “instant loans” from their mobile phones. But according to Philip Acton and Finn Tiedemann at DreamStart Labs Inc., there are growing concerns about the risky practices used by some of these digital lenders. They argue that one solution may come from a new generation of “savings-led” digital finance apps that use clients' savings capacity as a proxy for their ability to repay loans – a development they describe as an important milestone in digital finance.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Kenyan Fintech Startup Paylend Raises $2 Million Seed Funding
Kenyan fintech startup Paylend has raised US$2 million in seed funding to expand operations at home and launch in Tanzania, Zambia and Nigeria.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- credit, financial inclusion, fintech, MSMEs, SMEs, technology
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Brazilian Consumer Credit Startup Open Co Raises $115m in SoftBank-led Round
Open Co, a São Paulo-based consumer credit company, announced today that it has raised $115 million in a round led by SoftBank Latin America Fund.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Latin America
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International Finance Corporation , Absa Partner To Boost Trade Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has welcomed South African financial services provider Absa Bank to its Global Trade Liquidity Program (GTLP) to boost access to trade finance in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Aplazo Takes in $27 Million To Increase Adoption of ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ in Mexico
Four months after securing a $5.25 million seed round, Mexican buy now, pay later startup Aplazo is back with an even bigger round to expand adoption of the payment plan approach across that country.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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Impact Credit Solutions and Bank Central Asia Partner to Offer Financing to the Indonesian Healthcare Sector
Bank Central Asia (BCA), a leading Indonesian commercial bank, and Impact Credit Solutions (ICS) have partnered to offer affordable financing to the Indonesian healthcare sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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Kenyan Ed-Finance Solution Ed Partners Africa Raises $1.9 Million Funding Round
Kenyan startup Ed Partners Africa, a non-banking financial institution serving affordable private schools, has raised US$1.9 million in funding as it bids to improve the quality of education received by learners from low-income communities.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Opportunity or Threat: Are Healthy Partnerships Possible Between Digital Financial Services and Microfinance Institutions in Bangladesh?
Microfinance institutions in Bangladesh reach over 32 million customers with a loan portfolio of around US $9 billion. According to Jakirul Islam at Bank Asia, partnerships with digital financial services (DFS) could benefit both microfinance and DFS providers and their customers – but these partnerships are not functioning at their full potential. He shares four key benefits that are driving interest in these collaborations, and explores their inherent challenges – and some partnership models that could address them.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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