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When Digital Payment Goes Viral: Lessons from COVID-19’s Impact on Mobile Money in Rwanda
Cash can help spread COVID-19, so some African countries have ramped up efforts to expand digital payments to fight the virus. According to Isabelle Carboni and Hennie Bester at Cenfri, this imperative to digitize is one of the key opportunities to emerge from the pandemic. They explore the early experiences of Rwanda, in assessing the impact these efforts can have.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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Google and Gates Foundation to Help Spread Digital Payments in Developing Countries
The initiative would help tie together a growing array of digital financial services.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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South Sudan’s M-Gurush Joins Mobile Money Remittance Business
The launch of this remittance service comes at a time where digital money transfer services such as mobile money and electronic banking are being supported by various governments as a way to curb the spread of COVID-19.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Why COVID-19 Could Delay Interswitch, Africa’s Next Big IPO
The tech firm’s path from startup to IPO aspirant traces back to the vision of founder Mitchell Elegbe, a Nigerian electrical engineering graduate whose entire career has pretty much been Interswitch.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Coronavirus Is Triggering Deep Digital Change in African Fintech
In a bid to curb the spread of the virus, the World Health Organisation has been cautioning against the use of hard currency and encouraging the use of digital payments. This move has prompted African governments and regulators to enforce measures aimed at facilitating more cashless transactions.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital finance, fintech
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Viewpoint: COVID-19 Is a Call to Action for Regulators to Boost Financial Inclusion
Mobile money transfer and global remittance firms such as Chipper Cash and WorldRemit are particularly vital for migrants who rely on these services to send money home for essentials such as school fees, medical costs or groceries. As the services are increasingly available through mobile devices, they are a particularly efficient instrument in the push toward financial inclusion and the achievement of several UN Sustainable Development Goals.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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The Informal Economy is Complicating Government Responses to COVID-19: Will the Crisis Push Millions Toward Formality?
As COVID-19 devastates the global economy, many governments have designed support measures to help businesses and workers survive. But as Jill Lagos Shemin and James Dailey point out, this support may be ineffective in lower-income countries, where most small businesses and their employees work in the informal economy, lacking bank accounts and even valid ID. They explore some solutions governments can pursue – and trade-offs they will have to accept.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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Facebook in Talks Over Mobile Money in Indonesia
Three e-wallet operators interested in working with Facebook Pay to tap into massive Southeast Asian market.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- digital finance, fintech