The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is developing an electronic referencing system designed to quicken the process of opening bank accounts in Nigeria. The current laborious process of opening bank accounts in Nigeria, the apex bank said, is one of the reasons why only few Nigerians have accounts. “Besides the high illiteracy level and low
Vodafone M-Pesa – the mobile money transfer and payment service that has transformed the lives of millions of people in emerging markets – has come to Europe for the first time. M-Pesa, which launches in Romania today, will offer simple, safe and secure mobile money transfer and payment services to approximately seven million Romanians who
The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has commended continued technological growth in the country’s mobile phone industry. TCRA Managing Director, Prof. John Nkoma, said in Dar es Salaam: “This growth has so far done a great job in improving Tanzania’s economy, as well as social development.” Prof. Nkoma was speaking at an event that saw
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a US$ 125-million Line of Credit (LOC) to Zenith Bank PLC (Zenith) for on-lending to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. This 4th LOC to Zenith approved by the AfDB’s Board of Directors on Wednesday 26 March 2014 in Tunis, will enable Zenith gain access to long-term
Airlines will increase their focus on new distribution channels such as mobile and social media over the next two years, according to WorldPay’s Alternative Payment and Distribution Landscape: Airline Distribution Channels report. WorldPay, a global leader in airline payment processing and settlements, surveyed 68 global carriers (from low cost to traditional), and found that 83%
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said its cashless policy will not eliminate the use of cash for payments in Nigeria. Sarah Alade, acting governor of the bank, said at a cashless policy sensitisation exercise held in Ilorin, Kwara state, the cashless policy would only reduce the volume of cash transactions in Nigeria. Alade
The latest MasterCard Online Shopping Behaviour Study reveals that 90% of South African respondents cite the availability of secure payment facilities as critical when shopping online. Concern around the safety of online transactions was the reason 42% gave for not shopping online in the last three months, up 4% from last year. When asked how
Gabriel Swanepoel recently posted some interesting insights into the commerce trends in South Africa on the Verifone blog. Here is a look at what he had to say: “If you were living in or visiting South Africa a decade ago, chances are most of your purchases would have been made by cash. Today, things are
African remittances in 2012 were 650 per cent higher than the cash inflow of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank combined, according to a study. Infinite Potentials Consulting (IPC) has released a study documenting remittance transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), which totalled over US$31 billion in 2012. “[This] is 650 per cent
Three subsidiaries of the pan African banking group, the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, have emerged as World’s Best Emerging Market Banks in Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Senegal respectively. Specifically, UBA Burkina Faso, UBA Cameroun and UBA Senegal were considered the best in their various countries of operations by Global Finance magazine in an
