Africa's Weekly Fintech Review - August 5th, 2023

Africa’s Weekly Fintech Review – August 5th, 2023

August 5th, 2023

Africa’s Weekly Fintech Review

What’s inside?

• Kenyan officials suspend Worldcoin
• EMTECH raises $4M USD
• CBN removes withdrawal limit for MFB’s
• AFTS Interview with the President of JUMO
AND MORE!

Making the news

Kenyan officials suspends Worldcoin
“The Kenyan government has suspended all activities associated with the cryptocurrency project Worldcoin in the country following data breach and privacy concerns. The country’s Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said the government is deeply troubled by the ongoing activities of Worldcoin, which has been involved in the registration of citizens through the collection of eyeball or iris data.” The Kenyan Wall Street

CcHub co-founder & CEO nominated for ministerial role in President Tinubu’s administration
“On Wednesday afternoon, President Tinubu through his chief of staff Femi Gbajabiamila submitted supplementary ministerial list comprising of 19 individuals including Bosun Tijani, co-founder and CEO of Co-Creation HUB (CcHub), a leading tech and innovation hub on the continent with operations in Nigeria, Kenya and Rwanda.” Benjamindada.com

Banking & Telecom Activity

Standard Chartered & Ant Group announce strengthened partnership to drive green and inclusive finance initiatives
Wema Bank posts 109.57% year-on-year growth of pre-tax profit with an impressive 37% growth in interest income
Angaza Forum‘s gathering of Africa’s female bank leaders in Kigali, Rwanda showcases the need of diversity and inclusion in financial leadership

Startup Activity

Ethiopia – Delivery startup, beU Delivery, raises $300K USD from MiraclePlus (formerly Y Combinator China)
Kenya – Lipa Later partners with Mastercard to help drive financial inclusion and expand BNPL solutions across Africa
Nigeria – eHealth startup, Remedial Health, raises $12M USD to drive market penetration and provide financial services to local pharmacies
Nigeria – Merchant solutions startup, Traction, raises $6M USD in seed funding to drive expansion, accelerate growth, and strengthen its team
USA – CBDC platform, EMTECH, raises $4M USD as the company works with central banks in Nigeria, Ghana, and the Bahamas to develop regtech & CBDC stack solutions
USA – Compliance & security startup, Prembly, acquires Nigeria’s Tunnel at an undisclosed amount

Featured Article

CBN’s withdrawal limit removal for MFB’s; what it means for Kuda, Carbon, others – Michael Akuchie in Technext
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a circular excluding microfinance and mortgage banks from paying the processing fee for transactions above the cash withdrawal limit. This move is expected to support the above institutions’ efforts in bringing financial access to underserved communities.” Technext.

Featured Report

DOWNLOAD – The recently released H1 2023 State of KYC in Africa report, in the first half of 2023, fraudulent onboarding attempts in Africa dropped to 23% from 28% in 2022. The report goes further to highlight other key fraud trends across Africa.

Fraud attempts in Kenya grew from 10% in January 2023 to 17% in June 2023, making the East African nation the highest-risk country for ID fraud amongst the countries analyzed.
South Africa closed out 2022 as the country with the highest risk for ID fraud but became the lowest-ranking country for onboarding fraud and the only country with a single-digit percentage of fraud attempts in H1 2023 after seeing ID fraud rates drop from 17% in January to 8% in June.
Based on Smile ID’s analysis, relying solely on textural checks for KYC can lead to 50% more undetected fraud; this further highlights the need for multi-factor authentication, including biometrics.

Forward

AFTS partners in the news

Flutterwave extends $end App remittances to US & Canada
Flutterwave has extended its remittance solution to the United States and Canada, enabling money transfers from those countries to Africa. With this expansion, the Send App can now be used to send money to and from 34 countries around the world, the payments technology company said in a Tuesday (Aug. 1) press release.

AFTS in the headlines

AFTS’ Andrew Barden sits down with Joseph Mucheru (President, JUMO)

This week, the Africa Fintech Summit teamed up with The Kenyan Wall Street to host a video interview with Joseph Mucheru, Kenya’s former Minister of ICT, Innovation, and Youth Affairs. Our discussion covered everything from his transition from private to public and back to private sector, the growth of JUMO, applications for Artificial Intelligence (AI), and much more! (watch the full interview)

Who’s coming to this year’s Confluence of African Fintech? #AFTSLusaka
The 10th Africa Fintech Summit is NOT just another conference… it’s a confluence! Regulators, Bankers, Fintech Innovators, Investors, & Ecosystem Enablers will descend on Lusaka, Zambia for the most impactful and longest-running summit for the advancement of Africa’s financial technology industry.