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Africa FinTech Spotlight

PesaLink & The FinTech Alliance Sign MoU

Integrated Payment Services Limited (IPSL), the operator of Pesalink, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with The Fintech Alliance, marking a major milestone in uniting Kenya’s banking and fintech sectors. This will drive fast payments and network interoperability.

The MoU is expected to foster joint initiatives to reduce friction in fintech-bank integrations, accelerate the adoption of instant account-to-account payments, and support a more inclusive, interoperable payments ecosystem.

The signatories are planning awareness campaigns on efficient payment systems, fraud prevention and security standards. They will also be developing an online collaboration platform to support knowledge-sharing among developers, partners, and institutions.

Read more: https://cioafrica.co/pesalink-the-fintech-alliance-sign-mou/ 


I&M Bank Partners with ThetaRay to Deploy Full Cognitive AI Financial Crime Compliance Platform Across East Africa

ThetaRay, a global leader in Cognitive AI financial crime compliance, today announced a landmark partnership with I&M Group PLC, a leading Regional Financial Services Group in Africa. The partnership will see the deployment of ThetaRay’s advanced AML (Anti-Money Laundering) platform across I&M Group’s operations in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and Mauritius.

This implementation spans the entire compliance lifecycle, from onboarding and sanctions screening to dynamic customer risk assessment, transaction monitoring, alerting, investigations, and regulatory reporting. Consolidating multiple processes into a single unified system will allow I&M Group to move beyond fragmented and manual compliance operations, to a centralized, AI-powered framework capable of scaling across multiple jurisdictions and business lines.

Read more: https://ffnews.com/newsarticle/im-bank-partners-with-thetaray-to-deploy-full-cognitive-ai-financial-crime-compliance-platform-across-east-africa/ 


How Borderless plans to bridge the $406 Billion funding gap for Africa’s future

In an era where the African diaspora is increasingly looking to invest back home, platforms that facilitate such investments are crucial. Borderless, a fintech platform designed specifically for diaspora-driven investments, is making waves by addressing the unique challenges faced by these investors.

In an exclusive chat with Technext, the team behind Borderless shared insights into how their platform is transforming the investment landscape for Africans abroad.

First off, Borderless was born out of a necessity identified by Joe Kinvi, co-founder of HoaQ Club, a collective with over 800 members that has deployed over $3.7 million into African ventures.

Read more: https://technext24.com/2025/06/24/borderless-defining-diaspora-investment/#google_vignette 


Sybrin powers seamless cross-border payments across Africa

Cross-border transactions in Africa have long been plagued by high fees, long processing times and fragmented infrastructure. For example, the cost of sending a low-value payment across African borders can reach up to 30% in transaction fees, disproportionately impacting SMEs and consumers.

Sybrin’s Payments Hub is designed to address these legacy limitations by offering a fully interoperable, 24/7 real-time payment integration solution that ensures affordability, speed and compliance. Built on modern standards like ISO 20022, Sybrin’s offering connects financial institutions to regionally regulated payment networks, enabling them to scale efficiently and meet compliance demands.

Read more: https://www.itweb.co.za/article/sybrin-powers-seamless-cross-border-payments-across-africa/JN1gP7OAjkbqjL6m 


How fintech is bridging the financial inclusion gap for Africa’s smallholder farmers?

Across the African continent, smallholder farmers are at the frontline of the climate crisis. Rising temperatures, unpredictable rainfall, prolonged droughts, and extreme weather patterns are not only threatening harvests but undermining food security, livelihoods, and rural economies. Yet despite the urgency to adapt, a persistent barrier remains: access to finance.

According to the International Finance Corporation, the financing gap for agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and smallholder farmers in Africa stands at an estimated USD 117 billion. For the millions of farmers who work small plots of land, the challenge is especially acute. Lacking formal credit histories, collateral, or even identification, many are systematically excluded from traditional lending systems.

Read more: https://www.zawya.com/en/economy/africa/how-fintech-is-bridging-the-financial-inclusion-gap-for-africas-smallholder-farmers-hqq2x68s 


Mastercard to open A2A instant payments sandbox in the UK

Using the sandbox and Mastercard’s latest A2A payments technology, banks will be able to test new flows, including retail and digital assets, across person to person, person to merchant, and business to business use cases.

As an example, Mastercard says the sandbox will enable banks and fintechs to implement a “5-leg credit transfer” with confirmation of funds, meaning that a consumer can make a retail real-time payment with the merchant getting instant confirmation of payment.

The sandbox will also apply international ISO20022 standards and the opportunity to test the extended data fields supported for fraud detection and other advancements.

Read more: https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/46202/mastercard-to-open-a2a-instant-payments-sandbox-in-the-uk