-
Ant Financial claims facial recognition first
The company deployed the technology in self-service terminals at a new health-focused restaurant launched by KFC in Hangzhou, China. Named Smile to Pay, the service enables users of Ant Financial’s Alipay mobile wallet service to pay for meals by scanning their facial features.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- digital payments
-
Huge remittances milestone for Africa as TerraPay gets South Africa license
A mobile payments and remittances startup called TerraPay may have achieved what could turn out to be a huge industry milestone in the remittances space in Africa. The startup announced today that it has secured a license from the Reserve Bank of South Africa to conduct low-value international money transfers in the country.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
-
India ranks behind five African countries in Financial and Digital Inclusion says Brookings study
While at first glance it may sound disappointing that India lags behind five African countries in Financial and Digital inclusion, a closer look at the data reveals great news for Indian companies which are in the financial services and the digital space.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
-
Report says India is about to overtake China’s fintech
At more than twice the global average, China is currently the world leader in fintech service adoption, but current second-place India is expected to surpass its neighbor according to a report by EY (formerly Ernst & Young), a global accounting and consulting firm.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
-
Aadhaar Pay yet to find base in India
Going beyond knowing your customer (KYC) application, have payments via Aadhaar taken off? According to recent figures, a majority of Indians are still using Aadhaar only for e-KYC verification and not day-to-day payments.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
-
From Smart Meters to ‘Water ATMs’: Innovative Solutions to Bring Water Services to Rural Africa
An estimated 663 million people lack access to clean and safe drinking water in the world today. Innovations such as smart metering services are being tested to enhance access to water. However, these solutions have not been widely adopted across Africa, except at some water vending points. George Muruka at MicroSave explores how these innovations can be scaled up to the household level.
- Categories
- Technology, WASH
-
Adoptions rise, but mobile wallets still less than 1% of all digital transactions in India
“Despite now accounting for 10% of the overall transaction volume in India, mobile wallets form less than 1% of the transaction value,” a report by Deloitte said which was unveiled at the Retailers Association of India CFO conference on August 23.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
-
Viewpoint: Why I believe the US State Department is wrong about mobile money in Africa
The US Department of State recently released a report that identified mobile money services as particularly susceptible to money laundering in Africa. It cites services like M-PESA and M-Shwari as “services [that] remain vulnerable to money laundering activities”.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter, "NextBillion Notes"
Published each Wednesday, our e-newsletter features NextBillion's latest original articles, along with a selection of news, jobs, bizdev opportunities and events from our recent coverage — and regular conference ticket giveaways.
We respect your privacy. Your information is safe and will never be shared.
Don't miss out. Subscribe today.