Société Générale has acquired a stake in TagPay, a French mobile banking firm, as it looks to develop mobile banking in Africa. Société Générale says the deal will support the development of TagPay on the market and it will roll out the service to its African subsidiaries. TagPay’s mobile-centric core banking system, also called TagPay, […]
Standard Chartered Bank is bringing its video banking service to Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the “biggest roll-out of its kind by any international bank”. The bank says more than five million clients in nine markets across the continents will get access. The service is already live in Malaysia and Singapore, and will launch […]
Ghana-based Unibank has completed a major upgrade from Temenos’ T24 R8 core banking system to R15. The bank is the first in Africa to be up and running with this version of Temenos’ flagship product, Banking Technology understands. Unibank is a mid-sized universal bank in Ghana, with assets of around $430 million. The project was […]
Standard Bank in South Africa has launched its existing banking app to four additional African markets. The app is now available in Uganda, Namibia, Ghana and Botswana; with plans to roll it out to Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe by the end of 2016. The latest development is part of its drive to “enhance its […]
ALTX East Africa has launched its new exchange – offering the ability to handle 150,000 transactions per second. Joseph Kitamirike, CEO, director and co-founder of ALTX East Africa, says: “We also have the ability to settle securities transactions on a delivery versus payment (DvP) model within 15-20 seconds if the settlement bank we are working […]
South African heavyweight Absa is the first bank in Africa to join New York-based R3’s blockchain consortium. Absa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Barclays Africa Group Limited, will be working with over 50 banks to design and deliver distributed ledger technologies to global financial markets. On the back of its membership, Absa will also be […]
Banking software vendor Intrasoft International has launched its African subsidiary. Kenya-based Intrasoft International East Africa will sell and implement the vendor’s flagship core banking system, Profits, as well as auxiliary solutions for AML, call centres, e-signature and fingerprint identification. It will also provide software and services to the public sector. The project has been underway […]
A savings and credit co-operative society (Sacco) in Kenya, Puan Sacco Society, has issued an RFP for new banking solutions. The Sacco is looking for core banking, SMS banking and mobile lending software, and a payroll management system. Provision of point-to-point connectivity services and office internet services, plus hardware maintenance are also included in the […]
Co-operative of Savings and Credit Duterimbere (Copedu), a non-profit finance organisation in Rwanda, is looking for a consultant to help it select and implement new core banking software. The consultant will be working with Copedu’s technology department and assist the project manager and the company’s senior executives for best practices in project management. From the project […]
The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) is planning a core banking system implementation and the bidding process is open. As part of the bank’s ambition, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) is inviting vendors to bid for the supply and installation of core banking software and related infrastructure. FGN has received a loan from International Bank […]
Standard Chartered is bringing its mobile and online banking platform to eight countries in Africa. After the roll-out to Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe in the first half of 2016, the bank will launch fingerprint recognition technology in these markets later in the year. Karen Fawcett, Standard Chartered’s CEO for retail […]
Central Bank of Somalia is embarking on a major tech overhaul, with sponsorship from the World Bank. The bank will implement a new core banking system, Temenos’ T24, and a new ERP system from Oracle FSS. Swiss IT consultancy firm Sofgen has been recruited to deliver the project. The first phase is estimated to cost […]
South African banking heavyweight Absa has launched ChatBanking, the “first” service in Africa offering day-to-day banking from a Twitter account. As part of the “initial offering”, ChatBanking provides “actual and available” balance on a transactional account; ability to buy airtime or data for a cellphone registered to their account; and get a mini-statement showing most […]
Nedbank is getting closer to selecting a new core banking system, Banking Technology understands. The South African heavyweight has been in system selection mode since last year – looking to modernise its domestic banking operations. It is currently running a number of in-house and third party solutions, including CSC’s Hogan. The renovation project is estimated […]
Microfinance organisation Finca and credit scoring specialist First Access have unveiled “the world’s largest microfinance fintech collaboration”. The two companies say this partnership “will create the largest and most sophisticated alternative credit-scoring approach by a microfinance institution (MFI) in the world.” It will also vastly improve Finca’s outreach to excluded populations. First Access will analyse existing […]
Stanbic IBTC Bank in Nigeria is upgrading its core banking system, Infosys’ Finacle. The new version of the system will go live on 16 May, 2016 – but in the run-up to this the bank will be limiting its operations over the weekend 13-15 May. Stanbic IBTC will close its branches to customers on Friday […]
Barclays Africa is piloting a chatbot within the coming few weeks, making it the “first bank” to do so in Africa. The chatbots will use artificial intelligence (AI) to simulate “intelligent conversation” through written or spoken text. Yasaman Hadjibashi, chief data officer at Barclays Africa, says the chatbot is a way to be “more relevant” […]
Malawi Savings Bank (MSB) and FDH Bank will unite, resulting in 250 job cuts and a major core system upgrade. Sobhuza Ngwenya, group head of marketing at FDH, says that the core business strategy of the merged entity “towards achieving the top bank status” will be technology-driven. However, no branches are expected to close. FDH […]
Sudan-based Export Development Bank (EDB) has gone live with its new core banking system, Temenos’ T24. The Islamic bank implemented R13 of T24 and has also got Temenos’ Insight Financials tool. The project was initiated three years ago, with the contract signing in Q1 2013. National Data Consultants (NDC), a regional implementation partner of Temenos, […]
Chase Bank Kenya has migrated its full card portfolio to the Way4 payment software platform from Electra Card System. The solution is developed by Belgium-based OpenWay and Way4 will support the issuance of prepaid, debit and credit cards — under the MasterCard and Visa brands. Chase Bank Kenya is looking to grow its cards business […]
Kenya-based Family Bank is implementing a new insurance platform, based on JMR Infotech’s Avenir offering. Avenir – an integrated bancassurance portal – will support Family Bank’s fresh entry into the insurance business. Just a couple of months back, the bank unveiled a new subsidiary, Family Bank Insurance Agency, to target “the lucrative but highly under-served […]
Barclays is leaving Africa as it looks to consolidate the group and increase shareholder returns after a 2% drop in full-year profit. The bank will sell its 62% stake in Barclays Africa Group Limited (BAGL) over the coming few years and then focus on two divisions – Barclays UK and Barclays Corporate and International. BAGL […]
Libya-based Aman Bank has gone live on Oracle FSS’s Flexcube core banking system – with Oracle’s long-standing integrator JMR Infotech carrying out the implementation. The bank has ditched its legacy system iBank, from Tunisia-based Idee, and Rui Cupertino, deputy chairman at Aman Bank, expects the new system to “deliver significant improvements” and describes it as […]
Albaraka, a Morocco-based microfinance institution, has implemented Infosys’ Finacle core banking system, and customer relationship management (CRM) and wealth management solutions. The institution (formerly known as FONDEP) has ditched its existing core banking system as it plans to expand into retail banking and insurance products distribution. Mouatassim Belghazi, CEO, Albaraka, said with Finacle in place […]
Swift’s Innotribe initiative is to expand its programme to support innovation in emerging fintech ecosystems, including Africa and Latin America. It has also announced a new Industry Challenge programme under which the Innotribe team will work with Swift members to identify business areas that could benefit from collaborative solutions.
South Africa’s Nedbank has chosen Volante Technologies to help it revamp its payments message service using VolPay Foundation, which focuses on validating and processing payments. The move comes ahead of regulatory change next year, which will force all South African institutions to change the way they handle payments.
Stock markets in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa are planning to launch cross-listed exchange traded funds later this year, as part of an initiative that aims to boost liquidity across Africa’s three largest markets.
The London Stock Exchange Group has signed an agreement with Casablanca Stock Exchange to support the launch of LSEG’s business development programme, ELITE, in Morocco.
South Africa’s Johannesburg Stock Exchange is moving its derivatives and fixed income markets onto Millennium Exchange, the trading platform it bought from the London Stock Exchange when it moved its equities market earlier this year.
The vast majority of payments worldwide are still made in cash. But if mobile were to combine e-commerce with proximity payment, that could be a problem for banks. One potential solution is tokenisation.
As the payments industry adjusts to the gradual demise of interchange fees, banks will face declining profits. That means data will have to be used more effectively to squeeze out the remaining opportunities. But it also means they face a dilemma between building their own services and outsourcing.
As the global payments industry transforms itself to take advantage of new technologies, some services offer the prospect of real change, but others are simply hype. Telling the difference will be the key to success in the next five years …
The Innotribe Start-up Challenge attendees selected the five finalists from the African leg of the Start-up Challenge to compete at Sibos Singapore in October. The showcase was held yesterday alongside Swift’s African Regional Conference.
Africa and Asia are the centres of innovation in payments, with the developed markets of the US and Western Europe lagging behind, but the trend is towards domestic offerings rather than regional or international ones, says the latest Payments Innovation Jury Report.
West Africa’s capital markets are changing fast as regional integration and local stock exchange initiatives combineto transform its infrastructure. Increasing adoption of FIX and a promising demographic profile help too, according to speakers at the FIX Trading Community conference in London this week.
Swift is planning to open two new offices in 2015 in Accra, Ghana and Nairobi, Kenya as the organisation seeks to expand its presence in east and west Africa.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has made a series of internal promotions in its EMEA Global Transaction Services team.
A pan-African vision has inspired the African Stock Exchange, which has ambitious plans to tap the potential of the continent using hosted technology and a secure base in Mauritius.
Do banks still need branches, or does the smartphone make a physical presence obsolete? Panellists disagreed during a spirited debate hosted by ATM maker Wincor Nixdorf in Istanbul last week.
A new exchange focusing on sub-Saharan Africa is preparing to target international investors through a partnership with Germany’s Deutsche Börse. The African Stock Exchange, based on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, plans to bring together blue chip dollar-denominated African stocks and other products such as government bonds.
