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Kenya operators drop cross-network money surcharges
Cross-network transactions are currently possible in the country, but are complex to execute and carry additional charges.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Safaricom is planning to expand M-Pesa mobile money across Africa
Vodacom says the proposed deal gives it access to a market with “high growth, high margin, high cash generation business.” Shameel Joosub, the Vodacom Group’s chief executive, said the stake will drive M-Pesa adoption across its business.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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From Biometrics to Chatbots: Two Technology Challenges Aim to Help Governments Digitize their Economies
There is a growing consensus that emerging-market governments should digitize their economies, starting with the vast streams of payments they themselves make and receive. The DFS Lab is launching two technology challenges to fund new technologies that enable this transition: a Biometrics Challenge and a Chatbots Challenge. The deadline to enter is May 30.
- Categories
- Technology
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Vodacom strikes $2.6B deal for Safaricom stake
Combined, Vodacom said it will now have 32 million customers in the space, “making it a formidable player in financial services on the continent”. The deal also gives Vodacom a significant footprint in Kenya.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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E-payments to dethrone cash
“There is a clear correlation between the share of electronic payments and the opportunity for GDP growth,” Tim Murphy, general counsel and chief franchise officer for MasterCard, told The Post on the forum’s sidelines. “With every 1 percent increase in the share of electronic payments of a country’s personal expenditure, you can see somewhere between a third and a half of a percentage point increase in GDP.”
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Report: Leveraging digital to unlock the base of the pyramid market in Africa
The level of formal banking and insurance penetration across Africa remains low due to the fact that consumer spending power for the majority of the population is low and unsteady. This has been seen as a hindrance to providing products and services through traditional distribution models, even though this market represents the majority of spending power in Africa.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Six months after demonetization, Kolkata’s first cashless transactors shift back to cash
The winds of change that brought in plastic money and e-payments to traditional shops have blown over. Cash is back.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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UN report: Social network payments now reach nearly US $3 trillion in China
A new UN study reveals that Alipay and WeChat Pay enabled US$2.9 trillion in Chinese digital payments in 2016, representing a 20-fold increase in the past four years. The data shows that digital payments, using existing platforms and networks, provide access to a wider range of digital financial services, expanding financial inclusion and economic opportunity throughout China and neighboring countries.
- Categories
- Technology
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