Mobile Finance

Two Zambian operators have announced major digital finance initiatives in the past week, MTN with an eye to the international market and Airtel focusing on in-country payment requirements.

Sri Lankan telco Dialog Axiata said on Wednesday it has integrated GovPay – the government’s digital payment platform for government services – into its eZ Cash mobile money service, enabling users to pay for government services at eZ Cash retail outlets.

Mobile operator U9 (formerly Ooredoo Myanmar) revealed on Tuesday it has signed an MoU with TrueMoney Myanmar to enable broader access to digital financial services for individuals and businesses across the country.

A busy start to the week for payments giant Mastercard has included announcements of major deals in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Veon Group plans to invest US$20 million in its financial services subsidiary Mobilink Microfinance Bank, as the company looks to scale digital banking services in Pakistan.

Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) says it has officially licensed operators Safaricom and Airtel Money Kenya to operate as what are called intermediary service platform providers (ISPPs).

In what is described as a first for the EEMEA region, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) and payment giant Mastercard have officially launched Mastercard’s proprietary mobile-first virtual card number (VCN) solution for businesses.

Global digital operator Veon announced on Friday that its financial services subsidiary, Mobilink Microfinance Bank has launched Islamic banking operations in Pakistan, in response to growing customer demand for Shariah-compliant financial services.

The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has launched an interoperable payments platform developed by the Mojaloop Foundation that enables mobile money transfers between mobile operators Lone Star Cell MTN and Orange Liberia.

Orange Money Group, the mobile money service of telecommunications service provider Orange, and payments giant Visa have announced a strategic partnership aimed at accelerating online payments and democratising access to financial services across Africa and the Middle East.

Veon-owned telco Banglalink announced on Thursday it has received regulatory clearance from Bangladesh Bank to operate as a digital payment service provider in Bangladesh as it seeks to expand into digital financial services.

TenPay Global, the cross-border payment platform of Chinese multinational technology conglomerate Tencent, and Mastercard Move, payment giant Mastercard’s money movement business, have announced a collaboration.

Cameroon Telecommunications (Camtel) and Ethio Telecom are set to sign a master service agreement (MSA) on Thursday to cooperate on accelerating Camtel’s digital transformation, to include Camtel’s launch of its planned mobile money service, Blue Money.

Safaricom’s M-Pesa Ethiopia announced on Monday it has launched a new mobile money platform on Monday called M-Pesa LeHulum that works with any SIM card, effectively opening M-Pesa up to anyone regardless of what mobile network they use.

Papua New Guinea telco Digicel PNG and local microbank MiBank announced on Friday they have formed a new strategic partnership that enables two-way transfers between MiBank accounts and Digicel’s mobile money service CellMoni.

Axian Group says it has formed a strategic collaboration agreement with Mastercard to launch digital payment solutions in the five African markets where Axian operates mobile networks: Madagascar, Comoros Islands, Senegal, Togo, and Tanzania.

Vodacom Tanzania launched a global payments service for its M-Pesa mobile money platform on Thursday that enables Tanzanian customers and merchants to use their M-Pesa wallets to make payments while traveling and doing business abroad.

It is – as so often these days – a busy time for finance initiatives targeting developing regions. Indeed, two recent announcements relevant to such regions involve pan-African operator MTN.

Ethio Telecom has partnered with Awash Bank to launch Tila, a new digital credit, savings and device-financing service available through the operator’s Telebirr mobile money platform.

MTN MoMo South Africa is expanding its strategic collaboration with Mastercard in a bid to increase access to digital financial services and support greater financial inclusion across South Africa.

Singapore-headquartered global payment platform Thunesand pan-African financial institution Ecobank Group signed an agreement on Wednesday to collaborate on enabling instant cross-border payments for individuals and businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa, starting in Togo.

Digicel Fiji and SPBD Microfinance Fiji, a microfinance institution focused on rural village women, announced on Monday they will collaborate to deliver SPBD's services to customers through Digicel’s MyCash mobile money platform.

The ups and downs of the payment service provision business, particularly in Africa, have been highlighted in two recent news stories: one involving expansion for SPAYZ.io and the other signalling the end of Pay U Kenya.

Ukrainian telco Kyivstar says it is partnering with Mastercard to create new financial services, boost uptake of digital payments, and develop a more stable financial services infrastructure to support all this using Starlink’s Direct-to-Cell (D2C) satellite service.

Orange Egypt has partnered with Egyptian online gold trading platform mnGm to launch what they say is the country’s first digital platform for gold trading services using mobile wallets.

Vietnam’s mobile money service is reportedly set for a major upgrade from pilot mode to full-fledged service that, among other things, will see transaction caps raised to ten times the current amount.

A scheduled upgrade to its M-Pesa mobile finance service, announced last week by Kenyan operator Safaricom, was successfully completed today. It has been described as the most significant upgrade of the M-Pesa platform since 2015.

Late last week, the Finance and Budgetary Control Committee of the National Assembly of Senegal adopted a bill taxing digital financial services, including mobile money transactions and merchant payments.

Saudi Arabian telco Zain KSA is set to make a play in the insurtech space via its financial investment arm, Al Sayra Holding Company, which has formed a JV with global insurance specialist Prevensure to buy a stake in Saudi-based brokerage firm Green Shield Insurance Brokers Ltd (GSIB).

Vodafone Oman and digital financial service platform developer Software Group said on Monday they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on developing digital financial services in Oman.

African digital payments network Onafriq said it has formed a strategic partnership with Visa to launch Visa Pay, a cloud-native Payments-as-a-Service platform designed to expand digital financial access across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Digital payments giant Visa has announced the launch of Visa Pay, a mobile solution that provides access to digital payments and account-to-account money movement, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Orange has appointed Thierry Millet (pictured) as CEO of Orange Money Group, replacing Aminata Kane.