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Kenya is launching the world’s first mobile-only government bond
Kenyan citizens will soon be able to buy government bonds on their cell phones. Kenya’s Treasury said today that the M-Akiba bond, the world’s first mobile-only government bond, would go on sale on Thursday after a delay of almost two years.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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RegTech for Regulators: Reimagining Financial Supervision and Policymaking
The authors – representing BFA, USAID, the Gates Foundation and Omidyar Network – say tomorrow's financial customers and service providers will be able to leverage technology to engage in a real-time, two-way conversation to quickly obtain information and resolve problems, benefitting consumers, regulators and financial institutions alike.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Social Business Roundup: A $1 Smartphone, the Upshot of Disparity and the Quizzing of Presidents
If you manufacture a phone that comes with apps advertising to low-income consumers, can you sell it for as little as $1? The folks at SocialEco think so. Other items NextBillion's editors came across for this week's Roundup included a concentration on wealth concentration, an unhappy birthday for M-Pesa, plus a presidential Q that will hopefully result in an A.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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The Hidden Cost of Digital Convenience
Technology has the potential to reduce costs and provide added financial benefits to poor clients, but a new paper discusses a downside to digitizing group microfinance transactions; namely, a reduction in group cohesion and sensitivity to transaction fees. Innovations for Poverty Action and others are partnering with product designers and microfinance groups to overcome these challenges.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Samsung to launch mobile payment wallet Samsung Pay in India soon
South Korean tech giant Samsung is planning to launch its mobile payment wallet in India in the first half of 2017, media reports said.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Farmers’ credit rating app startup gets Safaricom funding
FarmDrive, a startup firm which helps farmers gain access to cheap credit, has received an undisclosed capital injection from Safaricom’s Spark Fund.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Cash Defenders are Wrong: Digital Finance Truly is ‘Pro-Poor’
Digital economies are gaining momentum, says Njuguna Ndung’u, former governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, and poor households benefit the most. He's concerned that "the uninformed defenses of cash-heavy economies risk unnecessary distraction from the real issue of how to ensure digital economies maximize the benefits to people in poor communities around the world."
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Rwandan Telecom Operator Launches Mobile Micro-Loans Service
Rwanda local telecom operator Tigo has launched a pilot phase of their mobile financial services platform that allows Tigo Cash users to access loans via their mobile wallets.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- lending, mobile finance
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