AfriConvert Wants to Fix the Guesswork in Sending Money Across Borders
The FX comparison engine tracks rates and fees across 162 currencies and 89 payment providers, aiming at diaspora households and freelancers who overpay without realizing it.
US Inflation Held at 3.4% in August as Gasoline and Fuel Costs Spiked
Gas prices jumped 27% year-over-year and diesel topped $6 a gallon for the first time, as the resumed Iran conflict keeps energy costs elevated even though headline inflation didn't worsen.
Absa Bank Kenya Confirms Yusuf Omari as CEO After Two Decades Inside the Bank
Omari moves up from interim CEO and 17 years as chief financial officer, succeeding Abdi Mohamed, who left to lead I&M Bank.
South African Crypto Firms Form Coalition to Fight Draft Capital-Flow Rules
VALR, Luno, EasyEquities and others banded together as CATASTROPHE, warning that proposed Reserve Bank and Treasury rules on cross-border crypto payments could isolate South Africa from the global digital economy.
Africa's Cross-Border Payment System Is Quietly Scaling Fast
PAPSS now connects 30 countries and settles transactions in 7 seconds instead of days, and it's aiming to cover the whole continent within five years.
ECB Raises Rates to 2.5% as Oil Spike Reignites Global Bond Sell-Off
Brent crude jumped past $105 and UK 10-year bond yields hit a 19-year high as investors dumped government debt on fears the Iran war will keep inflation elevated for longer.
Creditchek Acquires Ugandan Core Banking Startup Algosys in East Africa Push
The fintech infrastructure company gains a direct foothold in Uganda's Sacco lending market as it builds out full-stack credit infrastructure across the region.
JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon Warns UK Chancellor Against Raising Bank Taxes
Dimon met John Healey ahead of the October budget as speculation grows over a possible windfall tax on banks and oil companies.
Nigerian Convenience Platform OyaNow Adds Payments With OyaNow Pay
The Abuja-founded logistics and delivery app is folding bill payments and AI-enabled operations into its ecosystem as it pushes beyond deliveries into everyday fintech.
Why Getting Paid Across Borders Is Getting Harder for Kenyans
A string of platform pullbacks over the past year, from Twitch to PayPal to local fintechs, is squeezing how Kenyan creators and freelancers get paid from abroad.
Nigerian Fintech Nomba Raises $3M to Push Deeper Into Africa-Asia Payments
The debt facility from CardinalStone will fund Nomba's push toward $1 billion in monthly cross-border volume out of its DRC operations.
Liquid Network Loses $320 Million in Bitcoin Exploit, Most Returned by Attacker
A bug in the federation software behind a major Bitcoin sidechain let an attacker drain thousands of BTC before returning roughly 85% of the funds.
Nigeria's Reserves Just Hit an 18-Year High — and the Naira Is Following
External reserves reached $54.08bn, the strongest level since 2008, pushing the naira to N1,315.67 on a mix of oil-tax inflows and a record month for remittances.
'If It Walks and Quacks Like a Duck': South Africa's Central Bank Wants Fintechs Regulated Like Banks
SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago says the new National Payment System Bill will let fintechs get authorized directly for payment activities, without needing a bank sponsor.
Uganda Just Merged Your National ID With Your Tax ID
Cabinet approved replacing the separate Tax Identification Number with the National Identification Number, after individual TIN registrations fell by nearly half in three years.
Kenya Will Start Withholding 5% of YouTubers' AdSense Earnings Next Month
Creators must register a valid KRA PIN with AdSense by October 1 or face payment holds, as Kenya moves to formally tax its growing digital creator economy.
A Nigerian Fintech Is Using DRC as Its Launchpad for Africa-Asia Trade Payments
Nomba raised $3M to expand cross-border payment infrastructure in the DRC, targeting a China-DRC trade corridor worth $26.7 billion in 2025.
Tolaram Refinances Its Guinness Nigeria Debt — a Vote of Confidence After the Bet Paid Off
A $51M loan from Mauritius Commercial Bank replaces part of the debt Tolaram took on to buy Diageo's 58% stake, after Guinness Nigeria swung back to ₦41.2bn in profit.
The Yen Just Jumped to a One-Month High on Bets the Bank of Japan Is About to Raise Rates
The currency surge comes as global bond markets remain jittery and central banks worldwide navigate the same inflation pressures driving the sell-off.
FNB Customers Locked Out of Online Banking for Three Hours
The South African bank restored service by early afternoon after an intermittent access disruption hit app and web logins Wednesday morning.
Kenya Just Made Getting Paid by the Government Conditional on a Valid Tax Invoice
The Kenya Revenue Authority linked its e-invoicing system directly to government payment processing — suppliers without a matching eTIMS invoice simply won't get paid.
Shoprite Just Bought Majority Control of the POS Devices 15,000 South African Spaza Shops Rely On
The retail giant's acquisition of R&A Cellular gives it a direct stake in the point-of-sale hardware layer powering South Africa's informal retail sector.
Paystack Is Shutting Down Allawee's Accounts — a Year After Quietly Buying the Company
Customers have until November 30 to withdraw funds and update payment details before Allawee's personal and business accounts close on December 1.
South Africa's Nedbank Just Became the Majority Owner of One of Kenya's Biggest Banks
Kenya's central bank cleared Nedbank's $856 million acquisition of 66% of NCBA, with the local lender keeping its name, brand and Nairobi headquarters.
South African Telecoms Lost R199 Million to Fraud — and It's Not the Fraud You'd Expect
Reported subscription fraud cases jumped 307% year-on-year, with criminals using genuine stolen IDs and bank statements to pass verification checks rather than exploiting weak security.
Nigeria's Central Bank Wants to See Your Open Banking Idea — Applications Close Today
The CBN's second regulatory sandbox cohort opened a dedicated track for permission-based data sharing, alongside its existing virtual asset track, with the application window closing 31 August.
MTN Pulls In a Flutterwave Veteran to Fix Its Struggling Nigerian Mobile Money Arm
Bode Abifarin, formerly Flutterwave's COO, takes over as CEO of MoMo PSB on September 1, tasked with turning around a business that's been underperforming MTN's fintech ambitions.
Kenya Gave Its Central Bank the Power to Block Dollar Stablecoins — It Just Hasn't Used It Yet
The new law lets the Central Bank of Kenya restrict access to USDT and USDC if the shilling comes under pressure, even though reserves are currently strong and there's no immediate crisis.
BitGo Just Bought NYDIG's Trading Desk as Institutional Crypto Activity Rebounds
The deal brings roughly 30 NYDIG staff and 250 institutional client relationships to BitGo, while NYDIG refocuses on bitcoin mining and energy infrastructure.
OPay Might List in Lagos Instead of New York After All
After chasing a $4bn US IPO, the Nigerian fintech is reportedly weighing a domestic NGX listing instead — helped by the exchange's 57% rally this year.
Stripe's $53 Billion Run at PayPal Is Over
The Stripe-Advent consortium has dropped its pursuit after PayPal's board called the $60.50-per-share bid inadequate and flagged regulatory and financing hurdles.
A Nigerian VC Firm Just Closed an $84M Fund — Nearly Double Its Last One
Ventures Platform's second fund pulled in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development among new backers, and the firm plans bigger checks into fewer startups.
Moniepoint Just Killed Its UK Remittance App — 18 Months and $7.4M After Launch
Despite 70% monthly transaction growth, the Nigerian fintech unicorn is shutting down MonieWorld to refocus resources deeper into African markets instead of chasing the diaspora.
MTN Wants to 6x Its Nigerian Fintech Users — From 5 Million to 30 Million
CEO Ralph Mupita is betting MTN's telecom distribution network can convert up to half of Nigerian customers into fintech users, expanding into lending with partners Alipay and Ant International.
S&P Says Europe's Heatwaves Are About to Show Up on Insurers' Balance Sheets
Rising claims tied to heat-related deaths and illness — especially among older people — could squeeze insurer earnings and push premiums higher across Europe.
South African Banks Are Losing the AI Fraud Arms Race — and Only 7% Feel Ready
Deepfake voices and AI-coached scam calls are outpacing legacy fraud defences, with generative AI document forgery and deepfake social engineering both projected to grow 55% over the next two years.
Absa Cut SME Account Opening From Two Days to Under 30 Minutes
Straight-through processing using biometric verification, automated CIPC lookups and real-time credit checks is compressing what used to take Absa's business customers days into a single sitting.
Nigeria Just Finished a Year-Long Insurance Shakeout — 43 Firms Made It, Some Didn't
NAICOM's recapitalisation drive pulled over ₦300 billion in fresh capital into Nigeria's insurance sector, with 43 companies clearing new minimum thresholds and eight still under review.
Dangote Refinery Just Landed $1B in Backing for What Could Be Africa's Biggest IPO
A $600M private placement tranche plus a $400M IPO commitment puts real money behind Aliko Dangote's plan to take Africa's largest refinery public.
Bitcoin Just Had Its Best Week Since March 2024 — and It's Really a Story About US Debt
Bitcoin topped $75,000 in Asian trading, up nearly 20% on the week, after the US Treasury's bond buyback expansion revived fears about fiscal dominance and pushed investors toward hard assets.
Pouchers Raises $500K to Help Nigerians Earning in Dollars Actually Use Those Dollars
The Lagos-based fintech exits beta with fresh pre-seed funding for its stablecoin wallets and virtual dollar cards, aimed at freelancers and remote workers juggling multiple currencies.
The Rand Just Hit Its Strongest Level Since the Iran War Began
Gold's rally and a weaker dollar pushed the South African rand back below 16 to the dollar for the first time since the Middle East conflict started in February.
A Nigerian Court Just Froze 69 Bank Accounts Over a ₦1.4bn Fintech Fraud
A Federal High Court order targets accounts across 12 banks and six fintechs after eTranzact reported a suspected database breach that funneled fraudulent credits across the system.
Absa Wants Into Nigeria — and It's Willing to Start as a Merchant Bank to Get There
Africa's third-largest bank by assets is exploring converting its Lagos rep office into a merchant banking licence, part of a wider push to cut reliance on South Africa, Kenya and Ghana.
Africa's Biggest Bank Wants a Piece of OPay Before Its $4B US IPO
Standard Bank Group is in early talks to buy a stake in the Nigerian fintech ahead of a planned New York listing that could value OPay near $4 billion.
Gold-Investment Platform Augmont Enterprises Opens an ₹825 Crore IPO
The Mumbai-based digital gold and silver platform priced its offering at ₹750-788 a share, valuing the company at ₹7,200 crore ahead of an August 31 stock market debut.
Jamie Dimon Warns UK Chancellor Against Raising Taxes on Banks
The JPMorgan CEO told John Healey higher levies risk driving finance jobs away, citing New York's own experience, as speculation builds over a windfall tax that campaigners say could raise £19bn.
India Opens the Door to UPI Merchant Fees, Ending a Six-Year Free Ride
Parliament's amendment restores legal authority to charge large merchants for UPI transactions after subsidies covered barely a tenth of the payment ecosystem's actual costs — but consumers and small businesses stay untouched.
Airtel Money Launches a Dedicated Business Wallet to Challenge M-Pesa in Kenya
Bizna Wallet lets small traders separate personal and business funds within a single Airtel account, arriving with a 50% cashback promotion aimed squarely at Safaricom's Pochi la Biashara users.
Nigeria's Clea Launches Vendor Payments for Businesses Buying From Overseas Suppliers
The stablecoin-powered platform lets companies fund accounts in naira, convert to foreign currency, and pay international vendors like Copart and IAA in one workflow — already adopted by 50+ businesses.
Nvidia Cuts Its OpenAI Data Center Financing Guarantee From $250bn to Under $120bn
The scaled-back backstop, covering roughly half of a planned 10-gigawatt Ohio campus, follows investor unease after Nvidia's own shares dropped when the original figure first leaked.
Stripe to Acquire AI Model Router OpenRouter for Over $7 Billion
The deal values OpenRouter at more than five times the $1.3 billion it was worth just three months ago, as the payments giant bets on becoming the financial plumbing for AI usage itself.
Nigeria's SEC Admits Yellow Card and Blockchain.com to Its Crypto Regulatory Sandbox
The additions bring Nigeria's Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme to 14 participants, part of a broader push to bring virtual asset firms under formal, supervised oversight.
Did Nvidia Just Make the AI Buildout Too Interconnected to Fail Quietly?
Turning AI compute into a financeable asset class ties semiconductor makers, data centers, utilities and private-credit funds into a single system — meaning a shock in one corner may no longer stay contained.
Egypt's E-Finance to Acquire Microfinance Firm Tamweely for $95.5M
The deal gives the state-linked payments giant a ready-made base of 600,000 small-business customers as it pushes beyond payments into lending.
AIG Launches Insurance That Pays Out Automatically When the Cloud Goes Down
The parametric coverage, built with Parametrix's monitoring of 750+ data centers, triggers predetermined payouts after a two-hour outage — no claims investigation required.
Standard Bank Wants a Bigger Cut of Africa's Digital Payment Flows
Domestic payment values grew 11% and cross-border volumes 7% in H1 2026, as the continent's largest bank by assets leans into a payments market analysts project could hit $1.5 trillion by 2030.
Australia's Buy Now, Pay Later Boom Is Losing Steam
New account applications fell 35% year-on-year after 2025 credit-check rules kicked in, and half the platforms that once competed in the market have already left.