MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grab Adds MoMo as Mobile Payment Option for Ride-sharing, Deliveries, Digital Financial Services in Vietnam

Singapore-based Grab recently added the payment solution of Vietnam’s MoMo to its “super-app” so that Grab customers in Vietnam have an additional option for making cashless payments for services such as hailing a motorbike, shopping online, ordering meal delivery or buying insurance. MoMo allows users to send funds from

SPECIAL REPORT: Digitizing Microfinance to Meet Customer Needs via an Incremental Approach #EMW2023

e-MFP logoAt today’s European Microfinance Week panel on transforming microfinance institutions (MFIs) into digital financial services providers, the focus was on meeting customer needs – not just implementing digital products, but attaining measurable success for clients and MFIs. Given that 80 percent of many microfinance portfolios comprises renewals, the renewal of microloans is a great process to digitize. This can free up staff to focus on recruiting new clients.

The consensus of the panelists was that going digital cannot be addressed primarily as a technology problem; rather it must be looked at as a business problem. The Vitas Group of Middle Eastern MFIs made the conscious choice to build a parallel system rather than

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Banco de Credito del Peru (BCP) Launches iO Banking App with Support from i2C 

With the goal of encouraging digital banking and boosting financial inclusion, Banco de Credito del Peru (BCP) recently collaborated with US-based payment software company i2C Incorporated to launch the iO app, which is available on the App Store and Google Play. The app’s offerings include: (1) conventional and virtual credit cards branded by US-based Visa Incorporated;

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Mobile Money, Interoperability and Financial Inclusion;” by Markus K Brunnermeier et al; published by National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

In this paper, the authors examined the effects of platform interoperability on competition and financial inclusion in Africa. In particular, they studied interoperability among mobile money operators, a mechanism that allows users to transfer money between different mobile money providers and across mobile networks.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sama Money Acquires Première Agence de MicroFinance, Entering Microcredit Market in Mali

Sama Money, a provider of mobile money services in Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire and Mali, recently purchased the Malian microfinance institution Première Agence de MicroFinance (PAMF), after receiving approval from the Central Bank of West African States to operate as an Electronic Money Establishment (EME).

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Abler Nordic Leads $10m Equity, Debt Investment Round for Ergos, Agtech Offering Crop Storage in India

Abler Nordic, a public-private partnership whose investors include the Danish and Norwegian governments, recently led the Series B fundraising round of Indian agricultural technology (agtech) company Ergos, which offers crop storage and a digital platform linking farmers to markets. The funding round comprised

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: HugoBank, KT, Mashreq, Raqami Islamic, Telenor Microfinance Earn Regulatory Approval to Pilot Digital Banking Services in Pakistan

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) recently furnished five commercial banks with in-principle approval to set up digital banking platforms. Three of the five – HugoBank, KT Bank Pakistan and Raqami Islamic Digital Bank – have been established this year while the others – Mashreq Bank Pakistan and Telenor Microfinance Bank – have longer track records. These banks can now offer digital financial services on a limited basis, before final rollouts are approved by SBP.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Money Transfer Firms Suspend Fees for Payments to Libya, Morocco in Response to Disasters

In order to support recovery from the earthquake that damaged many parts of Morocco on September 8 and the flooding that began in Libya on September 11, several money-transfer firms are offering free international transfers to people affected by the disasters.

UAE-based e& Money, the

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lipa Later, Mastercard Partner on Buy Now / Pay Later Services in Africa

Lipa Later, a Kenyan financial technology (fintech) firm active in four countries, has partnered with US-based Mastercard to expand its merchant network and technological infrastructure in support of the “buy now-pay later” options that it offers online and in-store consumers. According to

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Moniepoint Microfinance Bank Launches Mobile Banking App, Debit Card in Nigeria

Moniepoint Microfinance Bank, a Nigerian subsidiary of UK-based Moniepoint, recently launched a debit card and a mobile app called Moniepoint Personal Banking. The app allows users to: (1) make bill payments, send money to friends and family, and purchase credit for mobile devices; (2) play games that offer

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fintech Kacha Gets Regulator Approval to Roll Out Mobile Money App in Ethiopia

Kacha Digital Finance Services, an Ethiopian financial technology (fintech) company, recently received approval from the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) to offer services such as remittances, bill payments, airtime purchases and accepting merchant payments through its eponymous mobile app. The firm, which

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Universal Insurance Launches Mobile App, Referral Platform in Nigeria

Nigeria’s Universal Insurance recently launched a mobile app to facilitate its customer service interactions. The app allows users to buy and manage policies as well as to file and receive support on claims. The firm also debuted the Universal Insurance Network, through which customers can

SPECIAL REPORT: The Impact of Digital Financial Inclusion on Global Development

In September 2015, every UN member country endorsed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which comprises 17 target areas known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

After falling from 10.1 percent in 2015 to 8.6 percent in 2018, the global poverty rate increased to 9.2 percent in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reversing a long trend of poverty reduction. Other headwinds such as armed conflicts, rising inflation, food in­security, and political and social unrest also are affecting global devel­opment, and the UN estimates that these crises combined to cause an additional 95 million people to live in extreme poverty in 2022.

On the other hand, the digital revolution has made many people’s lives easier with access to mobile phones, the internet and other tools. Digital financial inclusion (DFI) and its innovative business models have had a particularly disruptive effect, bolstering financial inclusion worldwide.

Impact on Sustainable Development Goals
DFI is enabling all types of pathways to advance the achievement of the SDGs, strengthening the link between financial inclusion and de­vel­opment. In 2016, CGAP and

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mastercard, Vodafone Fiji Partner to Provide Debit Cards to Mobile Money Users

Mastercard, a US-based financial services corporation, and Vodafone Fiji, an affiliate of the UK-based communications services provider Vodafone Group, have collaborated to launch the M-PAiSA Mastercard, which will give users of Vodafone Fiji’s M-PAiSA mobile money app the ability to

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Patasente Agricultural Trading Platform Accesses Credit Line Via Verdant Capital for Onlending, Invoice Discounting in Uganda

Mauritius-based Verdant Capital, a corporate finance firm, recently facilitated a revolving credit account for Patasente, a Ugandan firm operating a digital trading platform for actors in agricultural value chains. The new facility will fund

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: BIO Loans $15m to AMK Microfinance of Cambodia

BIO, a government-owned institution also known as the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries, recently loaned USD 15 million to Cambodia’s Angkor Microheranhvatho Kampuchea (AMK). AMK provides individuals as well as micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises with

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: I&M Bank Enables Spenn Mobile App Users to Send Money to Financial Institutions Across Rwanda 

Norway’s Spenn Technology recently expanded its partnership with the Rwandan unit of Kenya’s Investments & Mortgages (I&M) Bank to allow users of the Spenn mobile application to send money to any financial services provider in Rwanda, including banks and competing mobile money services. The app’s other features include