Global Fintech Trends - 30th July, 2024

Africa needs major advances for universal banking inclusion, says Standard Bank

The CEO of Africa regions at Standard Bank, Yinka Sanni, says a lot of ground still needs to be covered in creating a universal and inclusive banking system on the continent.?

According to Sanni, challenges in promoting equal access based on gender, income, education and age are still prevalent and demand attention if the goal of universal access for financial services is to be achieved.

He said this highlighted that financial institutions still had a lot of work to do to build on the progress that led to 49% of Africans joining the formal banking sector between 2011 and 2022.

Read more here: https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/economy/2024-07-30-africa-needs-major-advances-for-universal-banking-inclusion-says-standard-bank/ ?

Afriex Launches Global Accounts, Transforming Cross-Border Payments

• Afriex, a payments company that makes it easy to send and receive money internationally has launched Global Accounts, a new feature that provides USD, GBP and EUR bank accounts to users for receiving and sending money in multiple currencies.
• Key features include multi-currency holding, seamless cross-border transfers, real-time visibility, and accessibility through Afriex's mobile app.
• The launch of Global Accounts is expected to remove the complexity and reduce the costs associated with cross-border payments, driving greater financial inclusion and economic empowerment for Africans.
• Afriex Global Accounts are now available to customers across Africa, North America, and Europe with plans to expand the service to additional markets in the near future.

[Texas, USA] - Afriex, the fintech company revolutionizing cross-border payments, has launched a groundbreaking new feature - Global Accounts. This innovative solution empowers individuals and businesses across Africa to seamlessly manage multi-currency accounts, making it easier than ever to receive, send, and store funds internationally.

Read more here: https://techpoint.africa/2024/07/29/afriex-launches-global-accounts-transforming-cross-border-payments/ ?

Salaam Somali Bank Partners With Mastercard To Launch Waafi Card

In a move to enhance digital financial inclusion, Salaam Somali Bank has collaborated with Mastercard to launch a digital-first co-branded multi-currency prepaid card designed to revolutionize digital payment solutions.

The collaboration aims to cater to the growing needs of international travellers and diaspora communities by providing secure and convenient means of conducing digital payments across the globe.

The Waafi card offers a seamless digital banking experience for domestic and international transactions, enabling customers to perform digital payments anytime, anywhere. This includes merchant Point of Sale (POS) terminals, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), or online e-commerce platforms. This is a digital first implementation which means that consumers can create a digital card, tokenize the digital card on their devices and use it to perform contactless payments globally. This not only introduces convenience but also secures the transaction and cardholder data.

Read more here: https://cioafrica.co/salaam-somali-bank-partners-with-mastercard-to-launch-waafi-card/ ?

LemFi Expands its International Payment Services to Brazil and Mexico

LemFi is a leading financial technology platform revolutionising how people move their money globally. LemFi serves over 1 million customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada through its innovative products and services. Currently, LemFi supports international payments to over 20 countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe.?

LemFi is set to enter the Latin American diaspora market following recent expansions, starting with Brazil and Mexico.

Thousands of Latin Americans venture to North America and Europe every year for different living opportunities. One persistent challenge for these individuals is accessing reliable, fast, cost-effective financial services, a problem LemFi is already solving.

Read more here: https://kenyanwallstreet.com/lemfi-expands-its-international-payment-services-to-brazil-and-mexico/ ?

UNDP and timbuktoo Launch First Fintech Cohort in Lagos

The United Nations Development Programme and the timbuktoo Africa Innovation Foundation unveiled the premiere cohort of fintech startups at the launch of the timbuktoo Fintech Hub in Lagos, Nigeria. These innovative startups, chosen from over 800 applicants across 40 African countries, represent a diverse range of fintech solutions addressing critical development challenges aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The selected startups span various sectors, including financial inclusion, agriculture, healthcare, education, clean energy, and climate action. Their innovative solutions aim to tackle pressing issues such as poverty reduction, economic growth, and reduced inequalities across the continent. These innovations are solution driven enterprises with alignment to the Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 1 – No Poverty, SDG 2 – Zero Hunger, SDG 3 – Good Health and Well-Being, SDG 4 – Quality Education, SDG – 5 Gender equality, SDG 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities, SDG 13 – Climate Action, SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals.

Read more here: https://www.techafricanews.com/2024/07/29/undp-and-timbuktoo-launch-first-fintech-cohort-in-lagos/ ?

Techno-Worlding and the Mobility of Money

Over the course of 2024, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the City of Los Angeles convened more than a dozen listening sessions in support of the city’s development of its first-ever Africa Trade and Investment Strategy. The listening sessions brought new voices, perspectives, and geographies directly into the policymaking process. In support of these sessions, select scholars developed exploratory essays on California-Africa connections. These essays are meant to inform policymaking considerations and to identify potential questions for future consideration in developing and examining California-Africa connections. They are at once expert and experimental and attempt not only to shape policy but also to provoke additional scholarship.?

For migrant communities everywhere, the ability to send and receive money is essential. Given the high costs, long delays, and weighty regulatory rules that burden financial institutions such as Western Union or traditional banks, many migrant communities have developed their own financial networks which facilitate and shape transaction pathways and circuits. While these networks have been the subject of significant scrutiny and punitive regulation, the circulation of money at the supranational scale must be understood as core to substantiating and mediating urban life and economies.1 At the same time, technological advancements are reshaping both global processes and localized experiences of transnational remitting. In an effort to think about the relationships between African and American cities in generative and mutually beneficial ways, we engage with a diverse set of concepts which help to advance thinking around this issue and the related stakes.???

Read more here: https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/07/techno-worlding-and-the-mobility-of-money?lang=en ?

Raenest, Leatherback, Vesti, and Graph pitch themselves to African founders as Mercury alternatives

African fintechs that help companies access banking services in the U.S. and Canada are wooing founders affected by Mercury’s abrupt compliance changes last Monday.

Raenest, Leatherback, and Vesti are pitching to several founders seeking new banking partners to park millions of dollars in operating capital, several executives at those companies told TechCabal. Some founders have proactively contacted those fintechs.

“My LinkedIn has been blowing up since the announcement, even without any moves from my marketing team,” said Ibitade Ibrahim, CEO and founder of Leatherback, who said they are already engaging 50 startups looking to create U.S banking accounts.

Read more here: https://techcabal.com/2024/07/29/fintech-pitch-themselves-to-african-founders-as-mercury-alternatives/ ?

Three Canadian FinTech firms strike new partnerships

Toronto’s Payfare is extending its agreement to provide earned-wage access (EWA) to Lyft’s network of drivers, while Montréal-based Flinks is powering private open banking services from British Columbia’s CVCU. Meanwhile, Vancouver-based VoPay will be providing its tech to software giant Sage.

Payfare’s EWA offering allows workers, particularly gig workers, to access their earnings more quickly, rather than wait for a payday through the Lyft Direct app. Payfare , which also provides a cashback rewards program, is calling the agreement a “long-term extension” of its partnership with Lyft. Payfare says its other clients include Doordash, Uber, and Uber Eats.?

Flinks launched a private open banking offering in 2021, in response to the lengthy delays to the federal government’s adoption of its open-banking framework, a process that continues to this day . Flinks says its offering allows FinTech startups to securely access consumer data from financial institutions.

Read more here: https://betakit.com/three-canadian-fintech-firms-strike-new-partnerships/