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Foreign Investment Approved for White-Label ATMs in India – But Hurdles Remain
In order to boost a space that has grown at a snail’s pace, the government on Wednesday approved 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) under the automatic route for non-bank entities that operate cash machines, subject to certain conditions. Wednesday’s move, the government said, will help improve financial inclusion in the country.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Rising Star or Red Flag?: South Africa’s financial inclusion growth raises questions for the entire industry
South Africa placed second in a recent Brookings Institute study comparing financial inclusion in 21 developing countries – surpassed only by Kenya. But though this has led to celebration in some quarters, there’s a troubling aspect to these findings. Illana Melzer argues that the risks of burgeoning financial access and usage are too significant for beneficiaries, development organizations and donors to ignore.
- Categories
- Education, Impact Assessment
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New Report Examines Payment Aspects of Financial Inclusion
The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the World Bank Group today issued a consultative report on Payment aspects of financial inclusion. The report examines demand and supply-side factors affecting financial inclusion in the context of payment systems and services, and suggests measures to address these issues.
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- Uncategorized
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Different Worlds: Why digital payments should not be regulated as an offshoot of banking
Digital payments is emerging as its own field of expertise - and though the two sectors are often lumped together, it differs substantially from banking. For instance, banks prosper greatly from managing risk and little from network effects, while payments providers typically are just the opposite. This leads to fundamentally different outlooks between the practitioners in each field, and necessitates different regulatory approaches.
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- Uncategorized
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Founder of Newly Licensed Payments Bank Paytm Plans to Bring Half a Billion Indian Users to Platform by 2020
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm, was one of the two individuals, besides nine other entities, to be granted a payments bank licence. He believes that being a payments bank, Paytm can now provide its customers with a three-step life cycle comprising pay, buy and save.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Glo Xchange Rolls Out Super Agent Mobile Money Network in Nigeria
Globacom will from today commercially roll out Glo Xchange super agents’ network that will drive mobile money implementation across Nigeria in partnership with four leading deposit money banks, bringing 80 million unbanked Nigerians into the formal financial sector.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Gates Foundation to Help India’s Payments Banks with Tech, Innovation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will help newly licensed payment banks in technology sharing and innovation as it expects India to become a global showcase for digital payment systems in the next three to five years, Daniel Radcliffe, senior officer at the financial services for the poor (FSP) programme at the foundation, said in an interview on Friday.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Taking Financial Inclusion Data to the Next Level: National data is useful – but it’s not enough
The era of “big data” has fully arrived in the financial inclusion industry. But while existing data platforms are beginning to fill the gaps in national measures of inclusion, this information may not reflect the situation on the ground. That's why the next iteration of financial inclusion data needs to drill down to the subnational level to increase clarity around financial service access, usage and quality.
- Categories
- Education