Bank of Mauritius opens ‘Innovation Hub’ to foster fintech development
Bank of Mauritius has opened an ‘Innovation Hub’ as it looks to encourage the development of fintech projects.
The central bank of the Indian Ocean island nation, which is located off the south-east coast of Africa and has a population of about 1.3 million people, held a launch event for the hub – which has been named ‘Innov8’ – this week (4 September).
In an announcement in the build-up to the event, the central bank described the hub – whose creation was proposed in the government’s 2021-2022 Budget – as a ‘ground-breaking’ initiative that aims to ‘foster the development of cutting-edge solutions for the financial, banking and regulatory sectors, both domestically and regionally’.
Read more here: https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/bank-of-mauritius-innovation-hub-innov8-opens/
Drip Capital, a fintech that provides working capital to SMBs, picks up $113M
For over two decades, Jay Chandarana relied on commercial banks to meet the day-to-day, working capital needs of his family business, the sesame seed exporter Dhaval Agri. It was an arrangement that basically worked: The company grew to have a 13% share of the country’s total exports, making it the largest sesame seed exporter in the market. Yet despite sending seeds to customers in 40 countries, it’s still firmly a medium-sized enterprise, with last year’s revenues clearing just $83 million.
And it was facing a problem: When Chandarana thought about how he might expand the operation, his bank-based financial arrangement came up short.
“Banking in India is collateral-based,” Chandarana explained. “Your volumes may grow according to the business you’re doing, but the bank payments will only increase according to the value of your collateral.”
Read more here: https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/05/drip-capital-a-fintech-that-provides-working-capital-to-smbs-picks-up-113m/
Lesaka Technologies Revamps Leadership for Fintech Growth
Lesaka Technologies, Inc. has announced significant changes to its executive leadership and board aimed at bolstering the company’s growth in the fintech sector. Chris Meyer and Monde Nkosi are stepping down from the board, with Dean Sparrow set to join post-Adumo acquisition. Meanwhile, Naeem Kola ascends from CFO to COO, with Dan L. Smith taking over as the new CFO. These strategic shifts are designed to strengthen Lesaka’s position as a leading fintech innovator in Southern Africa.
Read more here: https://www.tipranks.com/news/company-announcements/lesaka-technologies-revamps-leadership-for-fintech-growth
Lithic Expands into Canada offering Multicurrency Processing Capabilities
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Lithic, a leading card issuing technology company known for enabling growth-oriented businesses with bespoke card programs and seamless money movement, today announced its expansion into the Canadian market. This marks Lithic’s first entry into a non-U.S. market and introduces powerful multicurrency processing capabilities that position Lithic to support the most ambitious and innovative card program use cases.
With this expansion, Lithic enables businesses to manage and process transactions in multiple currencies, which can reduce complexity, costs, and the risks associated with traditional currency conversion. This strategic move positions Lithic as a critical partner for Canadian fintechs, growth startups, and U.S.-based card programs looking to extend their reach into Canada.
Read more here: https://www.fintechfutures.com/techwire/lithic-expands-into-canada-offering-multicurrency-processing-capabilities/
Mastercard and Smile ID Collaborate to Accelerate Merchant Onboarding in Africa
Cape Town, South Africa | 4th September 2024: Mastercard has teamed up with Smile ID, a leading African digital Know Your Customer (KYC) provider, to streamline the merchant onboarding process for businesses in South Africa, Nigeria and across Africa.
This collaboration will see Mastercard provide Smile ID with its Merchant Digital Onboarding Program (MDOP), which offers third-party providers a secure and automated experience for acquiring partners, such as banks, mobile network operators, and payment facilitators, to ensure appropriate verifications when onboarding merchants.
Read more here: https://kenyanwallstreet.com/mastercard-and-smile-id-collaborate-to-accelerate-merchant-onboarding-in-africa/
Saldo Bank taps Enfuce to launch its first payment card programme
Saldo Bank, headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, has partnered with Finnish issuer processor Enfuce to launch its very first payment card programme.
Through the partnership, Enfuce is expected to deliver “over 60,000 custom-built open-loop Visa credit and debit cards” in various formats, including physical, virtual and tokenised cards.
Saldo says its credit card programme also features “advanced and real-time onboarding and credit scoring”, allowing for fully automated card issuance.
The programme is currently live in Finland, where Saldo has accumulated around 40,000 loan and deposit product customers since entering the market in October 2023.
Read more here: https://www.fintechfutures.com/2024/09/saldo-bank-taps-enfuce-to-launch-its-first-payment-card-programme/
PayPal revamps app to offer choice rewards programme
PayPal is rolling out a new rewards programme and more personalised ways for users to manage their spending in a major revamp designed to give consumers a smart choice for every purchase, every time.
PayPal’s enhanced rewards include the ability to choose a monthly category of spending, such as groceries or clothing, to receive 5% cash back on up to $1,000 per month when using their PayPal Debit MasterCard. Customers can also stack rewards on top of their monthly category by saving offers in the PayPal app from hundreds of top brands.
As an example, Paypal says that if a customer selects Restaurant as their monthly category, they’ll receive 5% cash back and another 10% cash back if they save a deal from DoorDash in the PayPal app, which will be automatically applied when checking out with PayPal online.
Read more here: https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/44684/paypal-revamps-app-to-offer-choice-rewards-programme
FDIC Eyeing Plan to Protect Customers From Fintech Failures (1)
Banks will have to closely monitor accounts maintained by third-party fintechs under a plan in the works from a key federal regulator intended to avoid a repeat of Synapse Financial Technologies Inc.’s collapse that saw millions of people lose access to their money.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is expected to release a proposed rule requiring banks to maintain ledgers of “for benefit of” accounts opened by third-party fintechs so the banks can identify how much end-user money they’re holding, according to people familiar with the matter who were unable to speak publicly about the coming proposal.
Banks would still be able to partner with middleman companies such as Synapse but would be required to have constant access to the third-party ledger and reconcile data each day under the proposal, the people said.
Read more here: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/banking-law/fdic-eyeing-proposal-to-protect-customers-from-fintech-failures
