March 06, 2024 Open Banking in Nigeria: Are Grassroots Efforts Enough? After several years of slow progress, some of the earliest examples of open banking frameworks have begun to
February 07, 2024 Gen AI In Emerging Markets: Is The Hype Warranted? In an otherwise difficult funding environment, slapping “AI’ onto any product or service has become shorthand for “we’
January 10, 2024 Three Fintech Trends From 2023 — And How They May Look In 2024 In 2023, the dichotomy between success and failure in the fintech world never felt more stark. Emerging technologies
December 14, 2023 Sanctions And CFT: Recent Palestinian And Russian Case Studies In a world of widening economic sanctions, de-risking efforts by banks too often leave expats and immigrants from
November 15, 2023 Psychometrics: What Makes A Reliable Borrower? With various forms of data proving insufficient or invasive (or both), the quest for privacy-protective — yet repayment-predictive — data
July 26, 2023 Inclusion Through Gig Work: A Tricky Venture The idea to utilize gig work for financial inclusion purposes is obvious, yet its manifestation is elusive. The
July 12, 2023 Bridging The Access-Usage Gap, Literacy Efforts Aren’t Key — Addressing Need Is Even following COVID’s turbocharge of digital uptake, the slower gains in usage compared to access renders financial
June 28, 2023 Venture Philanthropy: Data for Good? On the heels of the dot-com bubble, the intersection of private and public interests (and capital) resulted in
June 14, 2023 South Africa: A Model Of Stability Or Stymied Innovation? Fintech in South Africa is one of many caveats. A country with a highly banked population — yet one
May 31, 2023 Small Scale Series: Island Hopping Across the Caribbean Approximately 45 million people spread out over 7,000 islands, 13 independent countries, 20 territories, six official languages,
April 19, 2023 Small Scale Series: Tiny Markets in West Africa When it comes to fintech, scale sells. Any start-up seeking sustainability requires a measure of scale in a
April 05, 2023 Regulation: Time to Ask for Permission And Not Forgiveness The common saying “ask for forgiveness and not permission” has never been more contentious than it is in
March 22, 2023 Israel: Can Sentiment Alter A Tech Sector’s Trajectory? With the “Start-up Nation” brand and all, Israel punches far above its weight when it comes to tech.
March 08, 2023 Where Refugee Fintech Falls Short Efforts to provide financial solutions to displaced populations have seen some progress, particularly in stable contexts where business
February 15, 2023 Synthetic Data Will Transform Fintech AI As We Know It Synthetic data is everywhere, fueling viral innovations splashed across the Internet — yet few have even heard of it.
February 08, 2023 What’s Missing in Affordable Housing Financing In places like Kenya, the idea of owning a home is still a pipe dream for many. Typically,
February 01, 2023 Cross-Border Integration and The Future of Frictionless Finance As 2023 gets underway, it is still not clear whether the shots of digitization induced by the pandemic
January 25, 2023 Africa’s Social Commerce Runners: Raising The Floor, But Lowering The Ceiling? Social commerce is making inroads across Africa, propelled by stronger cross-border trade corridors that are helping to plug
January 18, 2023 ChatGPT: The Challenges And Opportunities Coming To Financial Services It’s been decades since algorithmic trading transformed Wall Street with its high-frequency trading and years since the
January 11, 2023 Is Financial Literacy the Missing Piece to African Insurtech? In her nearly ten years running a small grocery store in Kenya, Faith Kemunto’s biggest fear has
December 28, 2022 Fintech 2023: Looking Back To Look Forward In the first two years of the COVID pandemic, “acceleration” was the overused buzzword for what lockdowns and
December 14, 2022 FTX Aftershocks: Creation Through Destruction? Weeks after FTX’s monumental collapse, the aftershocks continue as investors, regulators and companies take stock of what
November 30, 2022 The Hurdles of Financing Africa’s Cross-Border Logistics Industry The cross-border logistics industry in Africa, currently estimated to be about $150 billion [https://internationalfinance.com/technology-uptake-drives-african-logistics-innovation/] , has
November 23, 2022 Mobile Money In Zimbabwe: Shaken, But Still Standing The popularity of mobile money in Zimbabwe is stifled by the government’s policies, high transaction fees and