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E-wallet Companies Struggle in India, as Initial Euphoria Dies Down
After a flurry of activity with almost two dozen companies launching prepaid wallets in the last couple of years, the initial euphoria around wallets may be dying down. Many players — with the exception of dominant Paytm or -owned Freecharge — concede that the numbers of wallet users is stagnating and companies are struggling to get existing users to transact more using their digital money.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Tanzania’s State-Run Telco Ventures Into Mobile Money
The State-run Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) is now venturing into mobile money transfer services as it seeks to enter the competitive market that already has four players.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Why Cash Will Remain King, Even in the Promised Land of Digital Money
If you talk to tech companies, telecom companies, and even some NGOs, they will tell you that the future of money in Africa is based on technology.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Digital Government: 4 Keys to Kenya’s Success with Electronic Government Payments
Kenya has long been grappling with inefficiencies in government service delivery, characterized by resource constraints, bureaucratic processes and lack of accountability. In response, the government launched an integrated service model for person-to-government and business-to-government payments, allowing digital payments via online and mobile tools. Here are four reasons Kenya is ideally suited to digitize its government functions.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Airtime to the Rescue: Why India Should Mobilize Telcos for Disaster Relief
Last April, when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake shook Nepal, telcos offered free mobile airtime for 48 hours to their customers based in India, so they could connect with their family members and friends in Nepal. This example illustrates the potential of utilizing the payments infrastructure to respond to natural disasters. I believe this potential could be more fully realized by channeling relief and rehabilitation funds to disaster victims using airtime as currency – and India is the ideal proving ground for the concept.
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- Uncategorized
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Consuelo Offers Blockchain-Powered Microinsurance to Migrant Workers
Bitcoin and blockchain technology have the ability to bring financial services to the unbankedthat otherwise would be unavailable to them. Mexican mobile payments platform Saldo.mxallows to pay for their loved ones’ utility bills across borders. Saldo recently debuted a microinsurance service, Consuelo, to allow users to easily use a fixed health and life insurancepolicy.
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Grameen Foundation and ideas42 Launch Partnership to Expand Financial Inclusion in the Philippines
Grameen Foundation and ideas42 yesterday launched a new partnership to support financial inclusion in the Philippines using principles from behavioral science and innovations in digital financial services using mobile phones. The initiative, funded by JPMorgan Chase Foundation, aims to reach thousands of people identified in the low-income bracket throughout the country.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Pro-Women, Anti-Cash: How Cashless Economies Can Boost Women’s Empowerment
We are still a long way from a world where cash is obsolete – in fact, 85 percent of consumer transactions are still conducted in cash, and for many people, hard currency clearly remains a useful commodity. But the landscape is changing rapidly, and for the world’s poorest and most excluded communities – and for women in particular – the drive towards cashless economies offers an exciting window of opportunity.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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