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Inclusion Requires Interoperability: Why All Digital Financial Services Should be Interoperable
As of 2021, there were 1.4 billion financially excluded people globally — over 1 billion fewer than there were in 2011. As Briana Marbury at the Interledger Foundation explains, mobile money and other digital financial products and services have helped to drive this progress, reaching populations that have traditionally been excluded. But she argues that this momentum has highlighted an emerging issue that could limit the impact of the growth in financial inclusion: the lack of interoperability between digital systems.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology, Telecommunications
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Norrsken22 Invests $205 Million in Africa’s Growing Fintech Sector
Lexi Novitske expects a rebound beyond pre-2020 levels despite a dip in 2023.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Taking Stock of India’s Fintech Landscape: A Venture Capital Firm Shares Six Insights from One of the World’s Most Vibrant Investment Markets
The global team at Quona Capital — a venture capital firm focused on inclusive fintech — recently concluded a visit to India, during which they immersed themselves in the local fintech ecosystem. Michel Zaidler at Quona shares six insights they gathered from several of their Indian portfolio companies, and from these companies' customers and other fintech thought leaders. He highlights some of the groundbreaking business models these fintechs are using, and explains why the Indian market offers unique opportunities to investors.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance, Investing, Technology
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Brazil’s Pix Payments Are Killing Cash. Are Credit Cards Next?
In three years, Brazil's hugely popular Pix payment system has become the country's favorite way to pay, replacing cash and wire transfers in many cases and now threatening the dominance of credit cards in the booming e-commerce sector.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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From Proxy IDs to Autonomous Payments: Why the Future of Financial Services is Hyper-Efficiency
Despite the rise of digital banking and other technological advancements, financial services are still plagued by significant inefficiencies. Author and serial entrepreneur Arunjay Katakam explores the causes and consequences of these inefficiencies — including their impact on lower-income customers — and discusses some emerging innovations that are addressing them. He explains why the sector's growing efforts to streamline back-end processes, reduce transaction costs and enhance operational efficiency will be pivotal in shaping the future of financial services.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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MTN Aims to Double its Mobile Money Lending in Uganda to Shs1 Trillion This Year
MTN says it will this year double mobile money lending from Shs550b to more than Shs1 trillion.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Leveraging Market Systems Development for Women’s Economic Empowerment: Four Tools for Designing Programs That Promote a Gender-Inclusive Economy
Market Systems Development (MSD) interventions are a promising way to boost women's economic independence in emerging markets. But as Sarah Bove, Teresa Oliveira and Julieta Ocampo at TechnoServe explain, since most MSD programs haven’t specifically targeted women, there's little evidence on how this approach can address their exclusion from key sectors. They offer insights from TechnoServe's Women in Business MSD initiative in Mozambique, sharing a set of tools that can be used by other MSD programs to maximize women’s economic empowerment.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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Press Release: Visa and the GSMA Mobile for Development Foundation Launch Digital Finance for All Initiative
This five-year initiative aims to advance digital financial inclusion for 20 million individuals, including women, small holder farmers (SHF), and nano, micro and small enterprise (NMSE) owners across low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
- Categories
- Finance, Telecommunications
- Region
- Global
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