Category Archives: Fintech

Fintech Africa

Financial Inclusion across Africa starts here

Africa’s first digital in-store lay-by app is aiming to create financial inclusion throughout the continent – starting in South Africa. Local fintech startup LayUp is taking the lay-by process into the 21st century – for merchants and consumers – with a mobile app and rollout of a terminal app via payment & merchant solutions provider […]

Chimera Investment LLC invests $50m in Airtel Africa’s mobile money business

Further to previous announcements, most recently on 16 November 2021, Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, today announces the introduction of Chimera Investment LLC as an additional investor in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (‘AMC BV’), through a $50m secondary purchase of shares from a […]

2021: The year of the online payment

As the world moved indoors two years ago, the online payment space flourished. These are the biggest developments in 2021, and a brief look ahead. This year, South Africans embraced e-commerce, mobile commerce and digital payments like never before – all four major banks have seen massive increases in these payment methods since the start of the […]

Should PayPal be concerned about your country’s central bank?

Most governments may have no option but to join the digital currency bandwagon. With the introduction of digital currencies from central banks, the world of money is poised to enter a new era. Is it going to be a paradise of financial inclusiveness or a dystopia of financial instability? What if the project turns out […]

The CIO’s roadmap for digital transformation

As the pandemic dispersed the workforce, necessitating more sophisticated means to connect, collaborate and communicate, digital transformation became a business imperative. Fikile Sibiya, CIO at fintech specialist e4, explains why a roadmap for the future is essential in this transformation, and elaborates on what it should entail. Organisations in diverse industries are transforming their business models by […]

How to get started with trading in South Africa?

The foreign currency market may be speculated on legally and profitably in South Africa via the use of forex trading.  Predicting price changes in currency pairings may be lucrative for South African Forex traders. The volatility of the foreign exchange market enables certain traders to make huge gains, with some even making millions of dollars. […]

Airtel Money drives efficiency for businesses through Airtel Africa Developer Portal

Airtel Money, the dedicated mobile money platform, is driving better efficiency for businesses to engage in seamless mobile money activity with its upgraded Airtel Africa Developer Portal. The portal, using several Open APIs and solutions, integrates remote payments with Airtel Money wallets, to provide greater ease of access for Airtel Money services across multiple business […]

Paysend reaches 5 million customers globally in under 5 years

One of the world’s fastest growing FinTechs having added 1.5 million customers in the last 6 months alone. Accelerating customer growth driven by strategic investment following landmark $125M Series B funding round in May 2021. Investment and innovation driving financial inclusion, set to unlock $5.4bn in annual savings for consumers and SMEs by 2025. Paysend, […]

Failing To Win

A new book from Burnet Media, Cape Town will inspire and guide the next generation of African entrepreneurs. Failing To Win by Mike Quinn is the authentic story of a uniquely African startup at the forefront of the continent’s fintech revolution. Inspired to become the “M-Pesa of southern Africa” after Kenya’s pioneering mobile money innovation, […]

Mitigating the risks of payments fraud

Global losses from payment fraud have tripled from US$9.84 billion in 2011 to US$32.39 billion in 2020, according to Deutsche Bank’s 2021 report on the future of payments. And financial professionals are saying COVID-19 hasn’t helped matters, with 65% believing that the global pandemic is to blame for some of the accelerated rate in fraud […]

Cryptocurrency and herding behaviour

By: Udette Kirsch – behavioural economist & strategic marketing specialist Cryptocurrencies refuse to play by the rules. People rely on experts for all sorts of advice, but when it comes to cryptocurrencies, they seek advice from peers and the internet. So, what causes this behaviour, and what are the implications? Hint: it’s rooted in behavioural psychology. Recent […]

How business can harness the power of blockchain

By Andrea Tucker, Head of Research & Development and Strategic Projects at fintech specialist e4 In today’s digital world, where faxes have all but been replaced by email and landlines by smartphones, doesn’t it seem strange that we’re still signing contracts in person? That we’re driving hours to do so, creating mountains of paper trails, […]

Africa is perfectly placed to take advantage of new payment solutions

Digital innovation has evolved payments solutions at breakneck speeds. Everything from contactless payments, QR codes and digital wallets … consumers today have so many new ways to pay. The big challenge, however, is to ensure that the millions of South Africans who still use cash are able to access these services. “Unfortunately, cash still dominates […]

Municipal Payments Essential for South Africa’s Future Cities

The urban population in Africa has swelled from 15% of the total population in 1960, to over 40% in 2010 and is set to exceed 60% by 2050[ii]. It is anticipated that South Africa will follow suit. In fact, current projections indicate that an additional 19 to 24 million people will be added to the […]

Nigerian Fintech, Brass, Secures $1.7mn Financing Round “to bet on African SMEs”

“Africa’s new bank for startups and SMEs” to expand to South Africa & Kenya following funding Brass, a Nigerian digital bank delivering easy access to affordable premium banking services for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), has today secured $1.7mn in funding to address the heavily underserved banking needs of local entrepreneurs, traders and fast-growing businesses. […]

Tech tipping point

New technology often seems fantastic on paper yet has little impact in the life of the average person. A new tipping solution for fuel pump attendants, however, does both. When asked to fill up a fuel tank as motorists do in the movies, few South Africans would know what to do beyond pulling their tank […]

Africa is leading the way in mobile money, and it will change banking as we know it

By Mark Dankworth, President International at Ukheshe Technologies Mobile transacting is fast becoming the golden egg of financial services – and nowhere more so than in Africa. According to the Global System for Mobile Communications’ (GSMA) 2021 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, the number of registered mobile money accounts grew by 12.7% globally […]

FSD Africa backs fintech pioneer to build a new platform aimed at increasing access to carbon markets

FSD Africa, the UK Government’s flagship financial sector programme in Africa, is making an initial investment (£650,000) in a highly innovative digital solution connecting carbon credits from small-scale green projects across the global south to international buyers. The investment will deliver funding through the test phase of the solution being developed by Nick Hughes, who […]

Peach Payments expands into Mauritius, serves as key event sponsor at Africa FinTech Festival

Peach Payments is pleased to announce that it has set up an office in Mauritius recently in pursuit of its pan-African expansion strategy. As a FinTech start-up that was set up in South Africa in 2012 and expanded into Kenya in 2018, the company is set to make a significant contribution to the pan-African FinTech landscape […]

New case study on digitalisation of financial service providers to serve low-income customers

This new publication explores the answers to the question: How best to digitalise a financial institution? The case study draws upon management consulting literature to assess digitalisation strategies in a pragmatic way. It assesses three leading African financial organisations against this framework: Al Barid Bank, Morocco; Equity Bank, Kenya; and Consolidated Bank, Ghana. The World […]

PLATFORM BANKING AND OPEN BANKING: why it’s the next big thing for banks and their customers

Incumbent banks are starting to look to “platform banking” to stay relevant and loved by customers. But what is platform banking in the first place? And why is it a good thing for society? Anthony de Gray Birch, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Direct Transact, South Africa’s biggest banking enabler of the past […]

HelloChoice: South African Agri-FinTech Start-Up Secures Major Standard Bank Investment

Leading South African founded and owned Agri-FinTech start-up HelloChoice has announced the finalisation of a major investment from Standard Bank, solidifying its market leading position as the premiere digital fresh produce and agricultural marketplace. HelloChoice is a proudly South African success story, founded in 2018 by Grant Jacobs and Graeme Jarvie, who had a vision to […]