Mobile Finance

International payments platform Paysend has expanded its money transfer services with Pix, the Central Bank of Brazil’s instant payment platform.

Pakistan-based fintech platform NayaPay has raised $13 million in one of the largest seed rounds in South Asia.

Ooredoo Maldives has partnered with Rakuten Viber to enable customers in the Maldives to easily send and receive money transfers on Viber’s m-Faisaa messaging platform.

The State Bank of Pakistan approved MCB Bank to perform due diligence to acquire a majority stake in Telenor's financial operations in Pakistan.

An uplifting recent story of African entrepreneurial success comes from South Africa where Lipa Payments, a local fintech start-up, has secured a R10 million (just under US$660,000) investment from Empowerment Capital’s Imvelo Ventures, which is backed by Capitec Bank.

Pakistan’s largest bank network HBL is adopting Temenos’ core banking platform to improve the user experience of its domestic and international operations.

In another example of the apparently unstoppable growth of digital finance in Africa, the African Development Fund (ADF) and the government of Malawi have signed a grant agreement for $14.2 million to undertake infrastructure upgrades and create a more efficient and transparent digital payment system.

Over 463,000 people have used mobile money services in Vietnam since operators Viettel and VNPT launched the cashless payments  last year.

The suspension of bidding for a second new Ethiopian mobile licence will not affect earlier licence winner Safaricom’s permission to offer mobile financial services, according to Dr Eyob Tekalgn Tolina, the State Minister of the country’s Ministry of Finance.

Mobile innovation continues to bring new money services to Africans, most recently in the form of mobile life insurance in Ghana and remittance from Europe for mobile money account holders in Cameroon.

Infobip has implemented a WhatsApp-based chat banking solution for fintech start-up Afridig Wallets.

Integrated payments technology company FSS (Financial Software and Systems) has partnered with the United Arab Emirates-based YAP, a digital banking platform, to deliver secure, digital first-card experiences to consumers in the Middle-East and African regions.

Saudi Arabia’s stc pay, the digital payment provider service of telecommunications company stc, has launched Qattah, which it describes as an integrated service which will allow customers to easily share and track expenses with multiple people, removing the stress from splitting bills.

Telkom, a South African wireline and wireless telecommunications provider, announced that Telkom Kenya has launched an app for its mobile money product, T-Kash.

WhatsApp shared the results of its pilot digital payments programme across 500 villages in the Indian states of Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Ooredoo Qatar has selected i2C Inc’s agile payments technology to help it launch modern payment solutions for its users in Qatar, including digital-first prepaid cards and mobile wallets.

Vietnam’s state-owned VNPT (Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group) has launched a pilot mobile money service nationwide.

One month after Vietnam announced plans to pilot mobile money services across the country, and eight months after Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed off on approval of the pilot programme, MobiFone has become the first Vietnamese operator to be permitted to provide mobile money services in the country.

Boku is expanding its mobile payments network M1ST into Thailand via support for the country’s two most popular mobile wallets, TrueMoney and Rabbit LINE Pay.

FSS (Financial Software and Systems) is collaborating with Bangladesh’s BRAC Bank to facilitate digital commerce in the market.

MTN Mobile Money Uganda, a subsidiary of operator MTN Uganda, and TerraPay, a global payments infrastructure company, have announced an association that will enable MTN Mobile Money Uganda to facilitate international digital cross-border remittances and speedy money transfers to beneficiaries in a number of regions.

Shares of Airtel Africa and MTN Nigeria have hit what are described as all-time highs after they were granted approval by Nigeria's central bank for banking licences – at least in principle.

Telenor has confirmed that it is reviewing possible buyers for its 55% majority stake in Telenor Microfinance Bank, which provides financial services in Pakistan.

Banking software firm Temenos has announced contract wins in Cambodia and Egypt.

Microfinance firm Barko is entering South Africa’s retail banking market with a new digital bank built on Temenos Transact and powered by The Temenos Banking Cloud.

Multilateral development finance institution the African Development Bank has signed a grant agreement for $500,000 with Y’ello Digital Financial Services (YDFS), a fintech subsidiary of operator MTN Nigeria. The grant will be used for a study into economic, religious, and social factors hampering access to finance for women in northern Nigeria.

Airtel Tanzania has partnered with the country’s I&M Bank to launch a mobile overdraft service.

Belize Bank Limited has launched a new banking app developed by Wallet Factory.

Orange MEA is partnering with Ericsson as it looks to accelerate its pan-Africa Orange Money mobile finance service.

Africa’s largest fintech platform has been celebrating a major milestone with the news that M-Pesa has reached 50 million monthly active customers, cementing its position as Africa’s largest fintech platform.