Crypto had a bumpy, and at times wild, 2023. But industry observers and participants continue to believe that blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies have the potential to revolutionize financial inclusion for marginalized and unbanked communities worldwide. There are many ways in which blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies can remove barriers,...
Nilesh Dusane, global head of institutional payments at AWS, and Ben Janse van Rensburg, interim CIO at BankservAfrica, told PYMNTS that instant payments will do much to transform South Africa’s financial services landscape. Janse van Rensburg noted that BankservAfrica, operating as an automated clearing house,...
Paysera has teamed with Ria Money Transfer to help unbanked customers send and receive money. The partnership, announced Friday (March 10), lets clients send money to 522,000 Ria cash pickup locations around the world. “Sometimes it’s not possible to transfer money to a bank account...
Ooredoo and Huawei have partnered on mobile money in the Middle East and North Africa. This collaboration will provide Huawei’s FinTech and mobile money platform to Ooredoo’s operating companies in the information and communications technology (ICT) space in the region, the companies said in a...
Financial institutions have an opportunity to provide customers with the financial literacy tools they want. January is Financial Wellness Month, and as inflation continues to stretch most household budgets, consumers are seeking better ways to manage their funds. With only 4% of Americans able to...
In what began as a recognition of workplace imbalances and inequities, diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) efforts are now evolving into a way of strengthening companies with a broad chorus of voices that add measurable value to the business. In a conversation with PYMNTS, Ari Montgomery,...
Unbanked Nigerians and those using a feature phone in the country will soon have access to eNaira banking services through an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) channel. Communications-Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS) firm Clickatell is partnering with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to launch a USSD channel...
Some of the most underbanked populations in the world can be found in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where countries like Egypt have bank account ownership rates as low as 22%. While increasing bank account access is certainly an important aspect of any...
Digital and financial services solutions firm Vodacom is introducing a new cash advance product to give people who are underbanked fast access to funds. VodaLend Cash Advance complements other offerings in the VodaLend financial services product suite, including VodaLend Compare, Voucher Advance and Airtime Advance,...
