Partnerships between financial institutions and technology firms allow financial institutions to utilise modern technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science to create advanced, technology driven products with a greater reach thus enhancing financial inclusion. Such institutions include Medina Islamic Finance, a digital microfinance platform focused on Africa, partnering with United Labs which is a data science venture studio based in New York that focuses on social impact enhancement in Africa. This partnership allows Medina to leverage machine learning and data science to improve its microfinance digital banking platform while United Lab’s AI technology and automated local language […]
African Development Bank (AfDB) launched the African Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI) in June which is designed to boost digital financial transactions as well as aiding safety in Africa. This facility is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Government of Luxembourg with the goal of financially including at least 320 million Africans, the majority being women by providing access to digital financial services. The fund aims to disburse a total of USD 400 M to up-scale digital financial services in rural and poverty-stricken areas by 2030. Focus will be […]
Ethiopia expands access to its financial sector as it has approved Equity Group Holdings, Kenya’s biggest lender by market value to open a representative office in Addis Ababa. This will allow Equity Group to provide remittance services by partnering with an Ethiopian lender to target the three million Ethiopians living abroad. Equity Group’s entry into the country will give the lender access to a combined 500 million people in its six markets of operation including Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, Equity Group won’t be the first Kenyan bank to gain access into […]
La Regionale S.A. (“La Regionale”) and the National Social Security Fund of Cameroon (“CNPS”) have entered into partnership agreement. CNPS is the state agency in charge of social security. Social security started in Cameroon in 1946. The partnership agreement allows La Regionale, as part of its overall financial services activities, to remit social insurance and entitlement payments on behalf of CNPS. La Regionale is headquartered in Cameroon and it is one of the leading and profitable “2nd category” MFI – a licenced deposit-taking financial institution allowed to provide loans and advances to SMEs and individuals. La Regionale is planning to […]
The importance of financially including underserved and low-income segments and expanding access to formal financial services has led to the development of advanced, technology driven products across developing countries. Digital Financial Services (DFS) recognises that although there are strong saving tendencies among adults in low-income countries, the usage of saving products at financial institutions is still low. Digital savings however, is still blossoming and identifying the market, product and policies is important as all these factors influence the usage of digital savings. The essential components of digital financial inclusion include: retail assets, digital transactional platforms, devices and additional […]
The majority of Africa depends heavily on cash for retail transactions and as a result, there has been an increase in innovative digital payment systems from leading technology companies such as Mastercard. Cash hinders growth in Africa as it places a strain on economies through production costs, crime, corruption and fraud prevention as well as the dangers associated with carrying cash. Small businesses are also negatively impacted due to the costs associated with accessing, securing, transporting and storing cash which further constrains growth if they don’t have the facilities to accept electronic payments. Mastercard believes that expanding access to […]
