Two South African fintechs, alternative lender Merchant Capital and online payment specialist Payflex, have launched a cash advance solution that aims to breathe new life into South Africa’s growing small and mid-sized retail sector. Known as FlexiAdvance powered by Merchant Capital, the offering is customised and backed by technology to allow access to funding within
By: Simone Cooper – Head of Business Banking at Standard Bank Group Businesses, and especially small businesses in South Africa, have been particularly hard hit by a dual crisis starting with slower economic growth and then the severe impact of COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021. There is broad acknowledgment that the untapped potential in
While AI and Machine to Machine (M2M) technology are nothing new, they are being deployed with greater speed and efficiency, and in more contexts within the South African payments and e-commerce environment. According to Andrew Springate, CEO of tech and financial gateway service provider PAYM8, the real potential of these technologies is just starting to
Weaver Fintech, a new division of omni-channel retailer Homechoice International (HiL), has made its first acquisition, buying an 85% stake in Cape Town-based buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) start-up PayJustNow. HiL is an investment holding company, focused on fintech and omni-channel retail through its subsidiaries. It is incorporated in Mauritius and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. According
Standard Chartered has released its financial results for the full year and fourth quarter ending 31 December 2021. See link here. In the Africa and Middle East region, the Bank has recorded its highest Operating Profit since 2015. Performance Highlights: Broad-based growth and improvement in income and profits Income grew by 3.5 per cent to
Although already on a steep adoption curve, Covid has fast tracked many organisations’ digital payments strategies. QR codes in particular are finding favour amongst major South African banks. Capitec’s most recent peer2peer (P2P) account-based payment offering is the latest that Entersekt has helped roll out. And the company says the payment method is likely to
ACI Worldwide has announced a partnership with one of South Africa’s leading financial services providers, Nedbank, to drive its digital transformation journey including real-time payments. Nedbank is embarking on a wide-ranging modernization program, migrating all of its legacy systems to ACI’s award-winning ACI Enterprise Payments Platform, including the move to ISO20022, the global financial messaging
According to estimates from McKinsey, SMEs make up an enormous 98.5 percent of all businesses in South Africa. “As the engines powering our economic growth, the challenges as well as the triumphs within the sector reverberate across the entire economy,” says Zunaid Miya, Managing Director of local fintech company, Hello Pay. The health of the
MoData, a leading provider of innovative, intuitive and intelligent digital business solutions for the financial services, insurance, telcon and retail sectors, has announced a collaboration with Resistant AI to help financial services safeguard themselves and customers against fraud. Resistant AI uses artificial intelligence to help financial services companies combat fraud and financial crime. The partnership
Leading payment solutions provider, Netcash, has invested in a grid-tied solar energy solution in line with its drive to reduce carbon emissions and operate more sustainably. IMPOWER, a vertically integrated energy company, was the contractor responsible for engineering, procurement, and project management for the solar installation. The system comprises 162 solar photovoltaic (PV) modules installed
