Equity Bank, once technically declared insolvent in 1993, now has more than 9 million customers, more than any other bank in Africa with nearly half of the bank accounts in Kenya. The company’s vision is “to be the champion of the socio-economic prosperity of the people of Africa,” with an agent-based model that has won…
By Olivia Chow Thunes offers a global platform that provides seamless transfer of funds between payment systems in more than 100 countries and 60 currencies. The company was born last year as the cross-border payments offspring of TransferTo, which was established in 2005 beginning with a mobile top-up and rewards business that has become the…
Nabil spent twelve years growing the business at Western Union between 1998 and 2004 across North America, MENA, Asia, and Europe. He also spent 4 years as President and CEO of Omnex Group, 5 years as CEO of Account Control Technology Holdings, and is now President and CEO of CieloPay. This resume has earned him…
I met Ronald Mazursky at his NYPAY event, a New York City payments and mobile commerce group hosting events for innovators and leaders since 2006. He is a founder, officer, and board member of NYPAY. The events often revolve around conversations that involve issuers, merchants, networks, FinTech startups, regulators, and others. As a result, lively…
Sofia Freyder gives us her words of wisdom and joins our RemTECH judging panel again. She’s led the development of international payment products for some of the largest players in the industry, including Western Union, MasterCard, Earthport, and now, JPMorgan. Last year she spoke to us about how innovators can partner with the type of…
When discussing financial inclusion in Africa, it’s hard to have that conversation without including M-Pesa. The product, born in 2007, has utilized the telecommunication networks to provide a way for Kenyans, and now many other Africans, to hold and transfer funds digitally through mobile money. Today, M-Pesa transfers over a $1B each month from their…
I did a research these past few days trying to find out when the first articles and news about the disruption of remittances by the fintech revolution were published. I could not find any before 2010, the year when the first IMTC Conference took place in Miami. The first articles have dates dating to 2011…
Leaf enables users to digitally store savings, receive money from abroad, and manage from a mobile device using blockchain technology. They are the first to make such an application that can be accessed from a USSD platform, as well as a smartphone. We spoke with co-founder and CTO of Leaf, Tori Samples, today who has…
It seems that the world is convinced that one of the teachings that this COVID-19 crisis has brought us is the need to step-up the drive to digital in the provision of financial services. There is a new consensus that ditching face-to-face contacts – and brick-and-mortar locations, and replace them with digital interactions is the…
If one thing is sure, this pandemic will change how we address our issues, personally and professionally. This week we spoke to Luis Cambronero, co-founder of TransferZero. We wanted to analyze with him the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on cross-border payments companies. Our main question is: What are the challenges and opportunities money transfer…
Today it is possible to order almost anything from an app. Within taps and swipes, items can be viewed from around the world, prices and features can be compared, and the chosen items delivered within a few days. The consumer is certainly in control — that is, as long as you have a digital way…
Actualización sobre el Remittance Community Task Force – RCTF (Grupo de Acción de la Comunidad de Remesas): El Sector Privado Como ya debes saber, especialmente si ya has leído nuestro primer artículo sobre el Remittance Community Task Force (RCTF), esta es una iniciativa creada por IFAD de acuerdo a un mandato de la ONU, con…
Read my blog inspired by the article written in Medium by fintech author John Biggs about his life during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York which he named “Racing in the Dark”. He referenced other authors and books to remind us that, as humans, we once spent whole seasons confined, hibernating, overwintering. The article let…
El anuncio del 19 de marzo del Secretario General de las Naciones Unidas, Sr. Antonio Guterres, ha pedido la solidaridad global en respuesta a la crisis del coronavirus. En respuesta a este grave escenario, el Fondo Internacional para el Desarrollo Agrícola (IFAD), a través de su Facilidad de Financiamiento para Remesas (FFR) está convocando un…
“Crap!” Aamer quickly covers his mouth and apologizes for swearing. My New York ears were shocked. To be sure, Aamer Abedi, Chief Marketing Officer of RemitONE is a good guy. This transfers over to his passion for remittances and the people the money impacts. This, in particular, is true for the case with money transfer…
Industry In attempting to determine future trends in the payments industry, a good question to ask is, “What are customer expectations?”. I believe we can all agree that customers want the payments they send and receive to be realized in real-time with minimum fees. They also want the option of which payment service provider they choose to…
Catching up with 2018 RemTECH Entry, Guppy.ai I am fortunate enough to speak with Sanjib Kalita, the Chief Marketing Officer who led Money 20/20’s early marketing efforts. Before that, Sanjib worked in payments at Google and Citi Cards for nearly a decade, which he draws upon in his new startup, Guppy.ai. They are putting…
Coinciding with the celebration of the 10 year anniversary of IMTC conferences we are faced with one of the most exciting and challenging organizational shifts: The Platinum Network (PNET). Bringing these conferences to life over the past 10 years implied a lot of work in the sense that it took time, energy, and creativity and…
