Mobile Finance

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.

Cellulant has entered into a five-year partnership with Senegal-based Gainde 2000 to offer an end-to-end Pan-African technology infrastructure and payments solutions for trade, revenue & tax collection for governments and multinational companies.

Another potential major player in the African mobile money market has received serious financial backing. African fintech pawaPay has announced that it has secured $9 million in a seed funding round.

SoftBank Vision Fund’s first investment in an African start-up has been announced – and it’s a big one for fintech company OPay.

Last month, we reported that Angolan operator Unitel was preparing to launch a mobile money offering. Now, Unitel Money has gone live.

Targeting in particular the 1.7 billion consumers that it says have joined the world’s middle class in the past decade, most of them in emerging markets, fintech Boku has launched M1ST (Mobile First), which it calls the world’s largest mobile payments network.

Hard on the heels of yesterday’s announcement that Sanlam and telecoms giant MTN Group are to distribute Sanlam Group insurance and investment products across Africa comes news that microinsurance fintech aYo has partnered with MTN to launch insurance for all Ivorians – and Sanlam will be involved.

CAMPOST, the national provider of postal and financial services in Cameroon, and VYZYO, a mobile financial services technology company, have signed a commercial partnership agreement to deploy and operate digital payment and mobile financial services throughout Cameroon.

The mobile money bandwagon continues to gather pace in Africa. Local press reports indicate that leading Angolan operator Unitel is about to launch a service called Unitel Money.

The Bank of Tanzania (BOT) has granted its approval in principle for Cellulant Corporation to operate as a Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) in Tanzania.

MFS Africa, which describes itself as Africa’s largest payment gateway, has announced its entry into Sierra Leone, partnering with Afrimoney, the mobile money service offered by pan-African telecommunications company Africell.

Pan-African fintech firm Carbon has entered a strategic five-year partnership with Visa to provide its customers with digital and physical Visa payment cards.

Government efforts to use the success of popular communications services as a source of new tax income have continued. The latest example is a reported 10 percent tax on the earnings of mobile money agents in Ghana.

The Angolan minister of economy and planning, Sérgio Santos, has apparently invited the Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom to invest in the country.