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Opportunity International and MyBucks: A Dangerous Partnership Decision?
Long-time microfinance watchdog Chuck Waterfield expresses serious concerns about the ramifications of Opportunity International's sale of six microfinance banks to the fintech company MyBucks – both for the clients of those banks as well as for the broader microfinance industry. This post, which originally appeared on June 21, was the most popular post on NB that month, and is part of our Most Influential Post of 2016 contest.
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- Uncategorized
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Nigeria planning to create 3 million new jobs by 2025 from digital financial inclusion
Nigeria is planning to create three million jobs by 2025 from digital financial inclusion according to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele. Emefiele said this would be achieved when there is increased adoption of digital financial services, adding that a 90% reduction in the cost of providing financial services is a further goal.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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3 Lessons to Guide Designing Better Financial Tech For The Developing World
On a recent development project in Pakistan, researchers and designers watched closely as a woman picked up a smartphone and opened an app. For someone with a low literacy level, and who had never used a mobile money app, she moved across the screens with surprising ease.
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- Technology
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Financial Inclusion Forum: The Technology Revolution
Technology was a recurring theme during the recent Financial Inclusion Forum. Eugene Amusin, chairman of the event, points out that while fintech is an enabler – it can decrease costs, providing new entrants with a competitive edge over incumbents who have legacy systems – there is a risk of new technology looking for problems to solve vs. creating technology to address identified obstacles.
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- Uncategorized
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More Bitcoin exchange platforms now focus on Africa
The level of awareness regarding Bitcoin in Africa seems to be on the increase, a several new platforms have emerged.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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- fintech, mobile finance
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Where Aggregators – and Open APIs – Fit Into Financial Inclusion
The introduction of a truly Open API is an exciting prospect for individuals and institutions interested in financial inclusion – digital financial providers, economists, technologists and developers alike. Building a successful business model, however, requires that the Open API is technically sound and that the financial inclusion community is included and encouraged to collaborate on innovative solutions.
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- Finance, Technology
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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
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- fintech, mobile finance
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What is Lost in a Digital Financial World — And How to Get it Back
As we work to extend financial services to the two billion financially excluded people around the world, we must rely on digital financial services. But vital as they are to financial inclusion, in the transformation to digital interfaces, valuable personal connections between financial service providers and customers are lost. Elisabeth Rhyne explores what exactly is lost, and how that loss can be mitigated or replaced.
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- Uncategorized
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