fizkes/Shutterstock
There is a lack of women guiding the booming fintech industry.
Andrzej Rostek/Getty Images
The Commerce Commission says New Zealand’s banking sector is uncompetitive. But in the rush to fix the problem, regulators need to ensure they don’t introduce risk and instability into the system.
The research assessed newspaper coverage of fintech in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa.
Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images
Coverage is celebratory and offers limited cautionary and critical reporting to the public and to policymakers.
Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky: all he wanted for Christmas (2022) was a UK banking licence.
Revolut
More diversity in the banking sector can help with stability, but Revolut’s two-year wait for a UK banking licence indicates regulatory caution.
Mobile operators also offer money sending and receiving services.
Wikimedia Commons/Flickr
The outcomes of increased financial inclusion in Ghana have been mixed
Mobile money operators using point of sale machines are increasingly popular in Nigeria.
Getty Images
More Nigerians are using mobile money but it is fraught with inherent dangers that must be tackled.
Accepting digital payments.
WESTOCK PRODUCTIONS/Shutterstock
The UK could learn a lot from developing economies about using digital payments to boost financial inclusion.
Cash is still king in Nigeria.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
Nigeria’s Central Bank didn’t have an adoption strategy for its digital currency. It was a missed opportunity.
Farmers in India are among communities around the world hit hard by unscrupulous microlending.
Narinder Nanu/AFP via Getty Images
Market-led microcredit innovations dominated by profit maximisation can harm the very vulnerable.
Chaay_Tee / Shutterstock
Research into Chinese peer to peer lending data shows that borrowers from regions with more minority dialects receive smaller loans.
The African Energy Commission says expanded access to new, people-centred renewable energy systems will “lift hundreds of millions of people” out of poverty.
KRISS75/Shutterstock
Are studies right that expanded access to off-grid solar products has driven economic development in Africa?
Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, delivers a keynote speech at the Bitcoin Conference in April in Miami Beach, Fla.
(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
The craze for crypto-currencies continues to grow. However, the environment is risky for investors, not only in terms of volatility, but also because of fraud.
Kimbal Musk, Elon’s brother, has launched one of these new kinds of nonprofits.
Michael Kovac/Getty Images for 'The Game Changers'
As decentralized autonomous organizations with philanthropic aims begin to form, it’s unclear whether they can operate without breaking IRS rules.
African tech entrepreneurs are performing well despite extreme challenges.
Bernd von Jutrczenka/picture alliance via Getty Images
A new handbook shows that African entrepreneurs are able to hold their own globally if given the chance.
A woman places her mobile phone over credit card reader at grocery store checkout counter.
Luis Alvarez via Gettyimages
The FinTech ecosystem in Ghana provided the basis for understanding how various actors work together to shape financial inclusion.
South African Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
Central banking was given to technocrats whose job is to make the difficult decisions. But there are parameters. And within these, central bankers must act independently, without fear or favour.
El Salvador is likely to become the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender.
Momentum Fotograh/Shutterstock
El Salvador has become the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. This is a noble idea, but unworkable in the long term.
In happier days. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (centre) and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (left) pose as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg takes a selfie during his visit to the country in 2016.
Sunday Aghaeze/AFP via Getty Images
Nigeria risks losing its recent status as Africa’s most attractive tech hub following its decision to suspend Twitter’s operations.
Ghana is in the throes of a mobile money boom.
Wikimedia Commons
An attempt to prevent fraud in Ghana’s burgeoning mobile money sector could be a setback for access to financial services.
City limits?
Jack Gibson
The question now is, how to turn a crisis into an opportunity.