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Malaysia’s EthisKapital Claims “World’s First” Licensed Islamic P2P/Crowdfunding Platform
The Securities Commission Malaysia awarded six peer to peer licenses, one of which is the world’s first license for Shari’ah-compliant P2P finance. EthisKapital will be focused on funding small businesses and real estate development projects. The team is spearheaded by UmarMunshi, who is also the Chairman of the newly-formed Islamic Fintech Alliance, and supported by former senior World Bank and Barclays Bank executives.
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- Technology
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Smart Campaign and The MasterCard Foundation in Partnership to Advance Consumer Protection in Financial Services
"It's important to certify the practices of individual financial institutions, but we will not create wholesale, sustainable change until we galvanize the support all of the partners involved in serving low-income people, including regulators and new, technology-based service providers. We must also make a concerted effort to champion the client's perspective," said Isabelle Barrès, Director of the Smart Campaign.
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- Technology
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Kenya Telcos, Vendors Now on the Spot for Hidden Costs
Many Kenyans have come to value the convenience of mobile money payments, but a consumer organisation has raised the red flag over the hidden costs.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Fintech Holds The Key To Myanmar’s Future
As recently as 2013, CNN described Myanmar’s banking system as “outdated and debased, open for decades to abuse by the previous regime, and shunned by about 90 percent of the population.”
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- fintech, mobile finance
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The Father of M-Pesa on Being Innovative in Africa
Nick Hughes is known for being at the forefront of innovation in Africa. He is responsible for founding and developing the M-Pesa mobile payments service in the mid-2000s while working at Vodafone. Today the platform is hailed as one of Africa’s top success stories. Over 70% of the Kenyan population uses M-Pesa, and other markets – such as Tanzania – are showing strong adoption.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Why Zuckerberg, Gates And Omidyar Are Investing in Fintech for the Poor
According to a report published in early September, Facebook is currently considering acquiring mobile money giant M-Pesa that launched in Kenya in 2007. While the news is not yet confirmed, it could be a sound deal for Facebook in terms of their presence in the sphere of online-remittances (what Facebook Messenger and other messengers are trying to develop right now) and projects like Internet.org to provide people from unbanked and emerging markets with access to digital services, which Zuckerberg has promoted a lot in the past.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech, impact investing
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International Lenders Battle to Keep Up With Kenyan Rivals as Mobile Borrowing Turns Into a Craze
Six broke university students were sitting in a room at Maseno University back in 2013, discussing how best to spend their Friday night.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- fintech
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New GSMA Study Projects Almost One Billion Mobile Subscribers India 2020
India is expected to see a significant uptake in mobile subscriptions, broadband and connectivity by 2020, marking a period of rapid development of the country’s mobile economy, according to a new GSMA Intelligence study published today. The new report, ‘The Mobile Economy: India 2016’, noted that at the end of June 2016, 616 million unique users had subscribed to mobile services in India, making it the second-largest mobile market globally, with almost one billion unique mobile subscribers1expected by 2020. India also overtook the United States in 2016 to become the world’s second-largest smartphone market with an installed base of 275 million devices.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- fintech