On The Web

nbsp;

Deals

MFS Africa Invests in Maviance

May 14 2021

• in
• Africa
• Mobile Networks (MNO)

“MFS Africa, a pan-African fintech company, operating the largest digital payments hub on the continent, had provided seed investment of $3m to Maviance, a Cameroon-based fintech provider. Maviance will be using the new funding to increase its footprint in its Cameroon and to expand into other countries in the central African economic region (CEMAC).    […]

nbsp;

Deals

Pomelo Raises $9M to Build a Payments Infrastructure for LatAm Fintechs

May 13 2021

• in
• Latin America

“Pomelo, a startup building a fintech-as-a-service platform for Latin America, has raised $9 million in a seed round of funding. The Buenos Aires-based startup’s new infrastructure aims to allow fintechs and embedded finance players to launch virtual accounts and issue prepaid and credit cards via “compliant” onboarding processes.”

nbsp;

Global

Is This the End of ‘No Paywave’ Signs? Govt to Clamp Down on Merchant Fees – NZ Herald

May 12 2021

• in
• New Zealand

“The Government is to clamp down on the fees banks charge businesses when people pay by credit or debit cards. Eftpos is free for merchants but its use has been dropping particularly with the Covid-19 pandemic as more people shopped online or used contactless credit or debit cards. The major banks temporarily cut contactless debit […]

nbsp;

Global

UPDATE 1-Ethiopia’s State Telecoms Monopoly Launches Mobile Money Service

May 12 2021

• in
• Ethiopia
• Mobile Networks (MNO)

“Ethiopia’s sole mobile operator, Ethio Telecom, launched a mobile phone-based financial service on Tuesday, seeking to boost growth by offering cashless transactions. Mobile financial services have become a significant part of African telecom operators’ businesses since Kenya’s Safaricom pioneered them with M-Pesa in 2007, giving people an alternative to banks. The new service, telebirr, will […]

nbsp;

Global

Irish Banks Plan Yippay Mobile Payments Joint Venture to Compete With New Entrants

May 12 2021

• in
• Ireland

“Bank of Ireland , AIB , Permanent TSB and KBC Ireland are planning to launch a mobile payments service known as Yippay “to rival disruptors such as Revolut”, according to the Irish Independent. The four banks filed an application with Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) for a joint venture called Synch Payments to […]

nbsp;

Global

SA banks are ‘forced’ to charge more for instant payments – but their prices vary wildly

May 11 2021

• in
• Faster payments
• South Africa

“South African banks say they have little choice but to charge extra for processing immediate electronic payments between clients of different banks. In a single year, banks process more than 49 million of these premium-rate transactions – but quite how much banks believe this extra computing power and risk should cost clients differs greatly. At the extremes, […]

nbsp;

Global

Paystack Expands to South Africa Seven Months After Stripe Acquisition

May 7 2021

• in
• South Africa

“Nigerian fintech startup Paystack has been relatively quiet since it was bought by fintech giant Stripe last October. The deal, worth more than $200 million, caused shockwaves to the African tech ecosystem and offered some form of validation to work done by founders, startups and investors alike. Today, the payments company, which powers businesses with its payment API and is actively present […]

nbsp;

Global

Africa’s Digital Payments Race Becomes a Scramble

May 6 2021

• in
• Africa
• Mobile Networks (MNO)

“The prospect of a cashless Africa has triggered a scramble for control of its payments plumbing. The continent’s top telecoms operators have become big financial players thanks to their “mobile money” networks, which provide basic banking to tens of millions through handsets. If China is a guide, that could make them gatekeepers to a fintech […]

On The Wires

nbsp;

Global

FLEETCOR® Signs Joint Venture Agreement With CAIXA, Brazil’s Largest Bank, to Distribute Its Electronic Payment Solutions

May 11 2021

• in
• Brazil

“FLEETCOR Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: FLT), a leading global business payments company, today announced the signing of a joint venture in Brazil between its local subsidiaries and CAIXA, the country’s largest bank. FLEETCOR® partnered with VR Benefícios, a Brazilian leader in meal and food vouchers, on the joint venture to meet the product requirements in the […]

nbsp;

Global

Mastercard Partners With Billetera to Offer Cutting-edge Digital Payment Solutions in Democratic Republic of Congo | Middle East/Africa Hub

May 11 2021

• in
• Democratic Republic of Congo

“Mastercard has partnered with Billetera – a leading digital payments technology company headquartered in Kenya – to provide millions of unbanked and financially excluded residents in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), access to formal financial and digital services through a diverse range of digital payment solutions…Mastercard’s partnership with Billetera is aimed at creating payments […]