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The surprising place where cash is becoming extinct
Somaliland, a self-declared republic in East Africa, faces high illiteracy and has an economy ravaged by a civil war. But it might just become the first cashless society on Earth.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Google is reportedly releasing a localized mobile payment service in India
The publication claims Google ‘Tez’ — meaning fast in India — will offer a comprehensive set of payment options beyond existing products like Google Wallet or Android Pay. Tez, for one thing, will include support for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) — a payment system backed by the government — and other consumer payment services including Paytm and MobiKwik.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Digital Payments in India – The Race to Capture the Market Begins
According to a recent report on Digital Payment in India 2020 by Google, the total payment via digital instruments is expected to touch $500 billion by 2020.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Nestlé, Telenor Microfinance Bank partner to launch digital lending for farmers in Pakistan
Under this program, Telenor Bank has been disbursing loans to dairy farmers digitally. The bank has pioneered one of the country’s first data driven digital method in deciding the loan limits with near instant loans. Hence, the loans are disbursed directly to the farmers via Telenor Bank’s mobile banking platform, Easypaisa mobile wallets.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Perspective: What the World Can Learn From India’s Cash Experiment
A report last month showed that 99 percent of invalidated bills have now made their way back to banks, suggesting the government's plan to extinguish illicit cash has foundered. At the same time, though, currency in circulation is down by about 25 percent from where it would otherwise have been, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, while electronic transactions are up.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Beyond ‘Send Money Home’: The Complex Gender Dynamics Behind Mobile Money Usage
In Kenya, gender doesn’t factor as strongly in accessing mobile money accounts as it does for formal sector accounts. This is surprising because in Africa women are less digitally connected than men. However, the networked nature of mobile money explains why more women adopt the technology. Susan Johnson writes that financial inclusion analysis and policy must factor in how women use their money, how it connects them to family and how financial services can facilitate this.
- Categories
- Inclusive Fintech, Technology
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Government’s BHIM app to be single point for all mobile payments in India?
The ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY) is working on a multi-pronged strategy under which it plans to make the Bharat Interface for Money app, or BHIM, the single point for all mobile payments.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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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
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