-
Opportunity International and MyBucks: The Future of Digital Microfinance?
Back in November 2015, to little fanfare, microfinance pioneer Opportunity International agreed to sell six banks serving sub-Saharan Africa to the MyBucks Group, a Luxembourg-based fintech company. By all accounts, this should have been bigger news, as it touches upon many of the topics and trends that are reshaping the microfinance sector, from the role of fintech to the question of responsible exits. Daniel Rozas and Gabriela Erice García explore the very real opportunities and challenges generated by this deal.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Viewpoint: Don’t Let Facebook Likes Sway Credit Decisions
What if you had to choose between keeping your Facebook friends and getting a home equity line of credit? What if your student loans could not be refinanced until you cut certain relatives out of your digital life?
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- fintech
-
India’s fintech revolution is primed to put banks out of business
While global stock markets reset and U.S. tech unicorns readjust to new expectations and valuations, India’s tech renaissance is just beginning to flourish.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- fintech
-
Viewpoint: India’s fintech revolution is primed to put banks out of business
Infosys founder Nandan Nilekani calls it India’s “WhatsApp Moment,” echoing how a simple software solution from Silicon Valley turned the Asian telecommunications industry upside down, making obsolete decades of infrastructure,business models and loyal customer relationships with massive telecom operators.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- fintech
-
White House acknowledges the potential of blockchain, other fintech
Blockchain technology that underpins digital currency such as bitcoin has been gradually moving from the ‘hype phase’, seen for the most part of 2015, to actual ‘experimentation phase’ with the advent of various blockchain consortiums and alliances.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- North America
- Tags
- fintech
-
Getting 4 Billion New Internet Users Online: Deploying Conversational AI at the BoP
Do you remember JARVIS, the computerized personal assistant who helps Tony Stark manage his complex super hero affairs in the Iron Man movies? With the rise of conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) like Google Home or Amazon Echo, or the smartphone-based Viv, Siri, Cortana, etc., similar JARVIS-like services may be available in the not-so-distant future. But wouldn’t it be better if this technology actually helped increase equality of global mobile access and information, in addition to just ordering take out?
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- fintech
-
White House Report: Financial Inclusion on the Rise
Financial inclusion has been on the rise across all demographics and geographies over the last two decades, according to a report published by the White House Council of Economic Advisors today.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- North America
-
Study Bitcoin & Blockchain, Federal Reserve Chair Tells Central Banks
A recent event in Washington attended by representatives from over 90 central banks had Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen encourage her counterparts to study emerging technologies, specifically mentioning bitcoin and the blockchain.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- North America
- Tags
- fintech