Tagged: financial inclusion

March 31, 2021 @ 12:57 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Philippines, is reportedly looking into adopting a virtual banking framework so that it may be leveraged to enable greater financial inclusion. The new digital banking guidelines are being developed to support a regulatory environment… Read More

March 29, 2021 @ 11:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Fitch Ratings reports that the Islamic banking ecosystem in Oman is expected to continue growing during 2021-2022 after rather strong momentum last year. This, despite the COVID-19 outbreak and historically low oil prices, Fitch Ratings noted. Islamic financing in the MENA region country expanded by… Read More

March 19, 2021 @ 10:45 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Brian Brooks, Former Acting Head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), has now joined the board of Spring Labs, a firm that develops innovative tech for exchanging data securely and in an anonymous manner via a shared blockchain or distributed ledger… Read More

March 11, 2021 @ 10:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

South Africa based Fintech group Adumo has secured R225 million (appr. $14.9 million) in capital from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is a member of the World Bank Group. The IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund also contributed investments in order to expand access to… Read More

March 11, 2021 @ 9:24 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Egyptian Fintech firm Dayra has reportedly joined Y Combinator and has also acquired $3M in pre-seed funding. Dayra is a Cairo-headquartered Fintech company offering modern financial services to the nation’s unbanked gig economy workers and micro-businesses. Darya has reportedly joined Y Combinator’s Winter 21 batch,… Read More

March 5, 2021 @ 8:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Indonesia-based Fintech firm PAYFAZZ has revealed that it invested $30 million in Xfers, a Singapore-headquartered business. The investment was made to establish a new financial entity, known as the Fazz Financial Group (FFG). PAYFAZZ stated that the companies will be keeping their respective names while… Read More

February 25, 2021 @ 2:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tim Frost, CEO at YIELD App, which is a comprehensive Fintech app offering a wide range of DeFi services and new investment strategies, has shared his views and insights regarding the recent trading frenzy that was initiated by a group of armchair investors via Reddit… Read More

February 4, 2021 @ 11:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Indonesian digital wallet provider OVO has teamed up with Manulife Aset Manajemen Indonesia (MAMI) and its partner Bareksa in order to introduce an instant redemption mutual fund. OVO stated that the new offering is the first of its kind in the Southeast Asian country. The… Read More

January 25, 2021 @ 8:06 am By Omar Faridi  |  

A recent study carried out by the Mastercard Economics Institute revealed that the Coronavirus crisis has presented Africa with significant growth opportunities for Fintech firms. The study has noted that the industry should, this year, play a key role in promoting greater financial inclusion in… Read More

January 18, 2021 @ 9:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Pakistan has introduced a state-managed instant digital payments platform in order to promote greater financial inclusion. The new online payments system, Raast, has been launched to support women who might have been financially marginalized or unable to access modern financial services for a long time…. Read More

January 1, 2021 @ 9:06 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at Paxful, a leading peer to peer Bitcoin (BTC) exchange, acknowledges that 2020 was quite rough. They claim that even though it may have been the hardest year of many peoples’ lives, there were still some positive developments. In January 2020, Bitcoin was… Read More

December 27, 2020 @ 4:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Dalal Buhejji, the Director of Business Development, Financial Services at the Bahrain Economic Development Board, has noted that there are currently around 400 financial institutions based in Bahrain. Buhejji pointed out that these companies are offered a “stable, predictable and proven” regulatory and business environment… Read More

December 26, 2020 @ 1:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Varo Money, Inc., the first consumer Fintech in the US to become a chartered national bank, recently explained how they’re building a better banking platform. Philippa Girling, Chief Risk Officer at Varo Money, noted that she’d been working in the banking industry for the past… Read More

December 24, 2020 @ 8:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The gig economy has been growing steadily in Asian countries like Malaysia, particularly at a time when the COVID-19 outbreak is forcing residents to pick up side jobs to supplement their earnings during these uncertain times. Although the gig economy or temp work opportunities are… Read More

December 24, 2020 @ 6:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The financial sector is undergoing major technological advancements and changes. Traditional banking institutions now face a lot of competition from online or digital startups that have no physical branches. Social media and other online platforms are branching out into payments and credit. The rise in… Read More

December 17, 2020 @ 10:10 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Fairbanc, the Silicon Valley-based Fintech firm that provides credit to the unbanked or financially underserved in Southeast Asia, has received financial backing from Columbia Business School’s student-run impact fund, Microlumbia. According to a release, this financial backing has come shortly after an investment from 500… Read More

December 9, 2020 @ 10:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Mexico-based digital bank albo has secured $45 million in capital through an investment round in order to expand its operations into lending and insurance services. Several investors took part in albo’s latest round, including Valar Ventures, Greyhound Capital, Mountain Nazca and Flourish Ventures. The digital… Read More

December 2, 2020 @ 11:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Vikas Raj, the Managing Director at Accion Venture Lab, a global non-profit firm focused on creating a “financially inclusive” world, with a “pioneering legacy” in microfinance and Fintech impact investing, notes that we’ve now entered a new age of Fintech and financial inclusion. Raj, an… Read More

November 28, 2020 @ 12:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Brian Armstrong, Co-founder and CEO at Coinbase, the leading US-based digital asset exchange, notes that this past week, the company heard rumors that the U.S. Treasury and Secretary Mnuchin had been planning to “rush out” some new regulations for self-hosted cryptocurrency wallets  – which would… Read More

November 26, 2020 @ 10:18 am By JD Alois  |  

In an interview as part of the Fintech Abu Dhabi Festival taking place this week, Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), discussed how Fintech or digital finance has been boosted by the COVID health crisis. Digital Transformation Menon shared that… Read More