Toward a Continental Financial Ecosystem: The Implications of AfCFTA for Fintech License Passporting
This chapter explores the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to catalyze a unified African market for goods and services, aligned with the Pan-African Vision of “An integrated, prosperous, and peaceful Africa” as outlined in Agenda 2063. Despite AfCFTA’s framework for economic integration, regulatory fragmentation across African countries creates significant barriers to cross-border fintech expansion. Individual countries maintain unique and sometimes conflicting fintech licensing standards, obstructing the seamless flow of financial services, stifling innovation, elevating compliance costs, and limiting financial access for underserved populations.
The absence of a comprehensive strategy for fintech license passporting under AfCFTA poses a critical challenge to establishing an inclusive, continent-wide financial ecosystem. This research analyzes how AfCFTA can support fintech license passporting, addresses obstacles to its implementation, and assesses the economic impact of achieving a harmonized regulatory model. The study aims to outline key benefits, challenges, and strategies necessary for fostering a collaborative regulatory environment that balances local requirements with a unified standard to drive efficient, secure, and scalable fintech operations across Africa.
Read more: https://lnkd.in/eXKzepUx
Here are six dynamics shaping fintechs in Africa
From partnership to product innovation accelerating, fintech integration into other verticals rising, and significant regional variation, Africa’s evolving fintech market is shaping up to be substantively different from fintech markets in the rest of the world.
According to a new McKinsey report. Africa’s fintech sector is expanding rapidly with revenues projected to hit $230 billion by 2025 on rising mobile adoption, digital transformation, and increasing financial inclusion,
It said, “Despite macroeconomic challenges, the continent’s fintech ecosystem has demonstrated resilience and adaptability with funding for tech startups rising 18-fold over the past six years.”
Read more: https://businessday.ng/technology/article/here-are-six-dynamics-shaping-fintechs-in-africa/
The Future of Fintech: Is Africa Leading a Financial Revolution?
Africa’s tech revolution is in full swing. Over the past five years, the continent’s startup ecosystem has exploded, with the number of tech startups surpassing 11,000 in 2024. Despite a global funding slowdown, African fintech startups still secured over $1 billion in 2024, accounting for nearly half of all venture capital raised (Africa: The Big Deal, 2024). More than half of Africa’s nine unicorns—companies valued at over $1 billion—are fintech firms, proving the sector’s dominance and its role as a driving force in economic transformation.
MANSA Secures $10M to Revolutionize Cross-Border Payments with Stablecoin Liquidity
MANSA, a global fintech innovator in cross-border payments, has announced the successful close of its $10 million funding round. This marks a significant milestone for the company in its mission to alleviate liquidity challenges for payment companies worldwide. MANSA’s stablecoin-based solution offers payment providers in emerging and mature markets a flexible and reliable way to manage liquidity challenges in cross-border payments.
Singapore records surge in mobile wallet scams
From 1 Oct to 31 Dec 2024, at least 656 reports where phished card credentials were provisioned to mobile wallets were lodged, with losses amounting to at least $1.2 million. Of these cases, at least 502 reports involved cards linked to Apple Pay.
The modus operandi starts with the scammer obtaining the victim’s card credentials through e-commerce related phishing websites, including social media advertisements. The scammer then adds the card details onto the Apple wallet of his own device and inercepts the SMS One-Time Password enttered by the victim at the phishing site.
Read more: https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/45529/singapore-records-surge-in-mobile-wallet-scams
Visa Launches New Tool to Benchmark Middle-Market Working Capital Efficiency
For the past two years, PYMNTS Intelligence and Visa have explored the strategies and challenges facing Growth Corporates. These middle-market firms generate annual revenues between $50 million to $1 billion and can become tomorrow’s juggernauts. Central to two annual reports (the latest can be found here) is the role of external working capital — access to borrowing solutions that are vital for both day-to-day operations and long-term planning.
We’ve gathered insights from nearly 1,300 CFOs and treasurers across 23 countries, five global regions and eight industry segments. And we’ve learned that working capital management is both an art and a science. In short, mastering working capital management requires industry- and region-specific metrics. Creating a roadmap tailored to each enterprise has long been a challenge.
