The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the country’s banking regulator, has introduced a three-tiered set of “Know Your Customer” (KYC) requirements for financial institutions that is intended to improve financial inclusion.

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Event Name: African Information & Communication Technology Exhibition & Conference’s (AITEC’S) Banking and Mobile Money in West Africa 2013: “Consolidating and monetizing the gains of innovation”

Event Date: July 10 – 11, 2013

Event Location: Accra International Conference Centre, Accra, Ghana Continue Reading »

Event Name: The African Information & Communication Technology Exhibition & Conference (AITEC) Finance for Your Future 2013: Financial Services and Investment Options for a Secure Future

Event Date: February 14-16, 2013

Event Location: Nairobi, Kenya Continue Reading »

The National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB), a trade group of 820 microfinance banks (MFBs) in Nigeria, reportedly issued a statement calling for a deadline extension for the implementation of the revised Microfinance Policy Framework, the regulatory guidelines established in August 2011 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the country’s apex bank. Continue Reading »

The National Microfinance Bank (NMB), a microfinance institution (MFI) 30-percent owned by the government of Tanzania, reportedly is planning to open 20 additional branches in rural areas. Continue Reading »

By Michael J. McCord, Roland Steinmann and Molly Ingram; published by Deutche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and Munich Re Foundation; 2012; 11 pages; available at: http://www.microinsurancecentre.org/resources/documents/doc_download/918-briefing-note-the-landscape-of-microinsurance-in-africa-2012.html

This report presents an analysis of the status and characteristics of the microinsurance industry in Africa. Continue Reading »

Centum Investment Company (Centum), a private Kenyan investment company, and Cassia Capital Partners, a US-based investment advising company, recently acquired a 45-percent stake in Platcorp Holdings Limited, the parent company of Platinum Credit Limited, a lender that operates in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Continue Reading »

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), a state-owned regulatory authority for the communications industry in the country, has released a report showing that the number of mobile money service subscribers dropped by 200,000 to 19.3 million between July and September 2012. Continue Reading »

Event Name: African Information & Communication Technology Exhibition & Conference (AITEC) Banking & Mobile Money West Africa 2013: Consolidating and Monetizing the Gains of Innovation

Event Date: March 13-14, 2013

Event Location: Lagos, Nigeria Continue Reading »

Chairman Moses Ihoza of the Uganda Mobile Money Agents Association (UMMAA), which represents 12,000 Ugandan Businesses that allow users of mobile money services to upload and withdraw cash, reportedly said the organization is calling for improvements to network infrastructure to aid the growth of the industry. Continue Reading »

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the country’s banking authority, reportedly has amended its microfinance guidelines to permit state governments to establish microfinance banks. Continue Reading »

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the country’s central banking authority, reportedly has decided that telecommunications companies will not be allowed to become licensed mobile money operators for fear that they will limit competition within the industry. Continue Reading »

Grameen Crédit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based organization that offers financial services to microfinance institutions (MFIs) and social business projects in Sub-Saharan Africa and Eurasia, has recently loaned Koperasi Mitra Dhuafa (Komida), an Indonesian MFI, the local-currency equivalent of USD 751,000 with a three-year term. Continue Reading »

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the US-based World Bank Group, and the private-sector office of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), a multilateral mechanism established by the G20 group of 20 large economies, have announced that each of the organizations will invest USD 5 million in Root Capital, a US-based nonprofit social investment fund. Continue Reading »

YouthStart, a program that aims to increase access to financial services for low-income youth in Sub-Saharan Africa, recently reported that approximately 40,000 young people in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda have opened savings accounts with YouthStart’s partner institutions and deposited approximately USD 550,000 into those accounts since September 2012.

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M-Birr ICT (Information and Communication Technology), the Ethiopian subsidiary of Ireland-based M-Birr Limited, reportedly will begin a pilot operation in January to provide mobile money services in Ethiopia. Continue Reading »

MicroEnsure, a UK-based microinsurance subsidiary of US-based nonprofit Opportunity International, recently announced that it will be partnering with Meteo Rwanda, the country’s meteorological agency, in order to provide weather index insurance (WII) to small-scale Rwandan farmers. Continue Reading »

The Bank of Zambia (BOZ), the country’s central bank, reportedly has mandated a 42-percent cap on the effective interest rates charged by non-bank lending institutions designated as microfinance service providers [1, 2]. Continue Reading »