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Apple brings Alibaba-linked payment system into China stores amid market push
Apple Inc will accept Chinese mobile payment app Alipay in its local stores, boosting its ties with giant e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd amid a push by the iPhone maker to revive growth in the world’s No.2 economy.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Harnessing the Potential of Digital Finance for Women
Sixty-two percent of the world’s adult population now has access to a bank account. But in spite of this progress, gender gaps in digital and overall financial inclusion are increasing, and there's a growing awareness that access alone doesn't equal empowerment. Madji Sock and Katrina Kwan of Dalberg Advisors discuss strategies to close this growing gap and ensure that women are not left behind by the digital revolution in financial services.
- Categories
- Finance
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Kenya: Mobile money interoperability to launch in March 2018
Interoperability will also present consumers with choices of services and not being locked into one service or mobile network, given how costly it has been to transfer money between mobile money services.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Two Problems, One Solution: How Fintech is Boosting Access to Banking and Insurance for Domestic Workers in Mexico
More than 2 million domestic workers in Mexico go unseen by the formal financial system – they don't pay into a pension or social security system, and remain unbanked and badly underserved. Mexican fintech startup 4UNO is serving this hard-to-reach segment with an innovative banking and insurance product delivered through their employers. BFA's Gabriela Zapata explains how 4UNO is avoiding the pitfalls traditional financial institutions have faced in working with low-income clients.
- Categories
- Finance, Health Care
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Revolutionizing Payday: Mobile Money’s Transformative Impact on Liberia’s Public Workers
Imagine if every time you picked up your paycheck, you had to navigate a long and dangerous ride, deal with endless lines and cash shortages at the bank, and pay expensive fees and bribes – a process that cost you several work days and up to 15 percent of your salary. That used to be the situation facing health and education workers in Liberia, but the government’s innovative use of mobile money has turned things around. Erica Bustinza of FHI 360 oversees the program that made this possible, and she discusses its impact.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Press release: TRANSFAST Partners With Bangladesh BRAC Bank and bKash Mobile Wallet for Global Money Transfers
Bangladeshi expatriates around the world can now send cross-border remittances to bKash Mobile Wallet users at any of TRANSFAST'S 200,000 payout locations in more than 120 countries. The funds can be either cashed out via bKash agent locations in Bangladesh, or can be utilized to make person to person fund transfers, top-up mobile airtime, pay bills, and shop in-store. TRANSFAST is the first money transfer company to partner with bKash to provide this service in Bangladesh.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Malware threatens India’s mobile banking revolution
Digital transactions, currently running around 900 billion rupees ($14 billion) a month, are a tempting target for cyberthieves, who have created malware targeting digital banking customers.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Expanding Financial Access Means Expanding Security – How ‘Tokenization’ Could Be the Key
When Experian was hacked last fall, the breach exposed the social security numbers of 143 million people in the U.S. Shortly thereafter, in South Africa, approximately 30 million citizens' identity numbers and financial information were hacked and leaked on the internet. As more people in emerging economies are equipped with personal identification numbers for digital financial services, the need for securing sensitive data grows exponentially. Suresh Rajagopalan of FSS touts tokenization as a remedy – and outlines some challenges it presents.
- Categories
- Finance