Return to top
NewsWatch:
This page will stop being updated shortly. You can subscribe to Tameo’s NewsWatch
here
to keep yourself informed about recent industry happenings.
Learn more about Tameo.
Archives:
- 2021
- 2020
- 2019
- 2018
- 2017
- 2016
- 2015
- 2014
- 2013
- 2012
- 2011
- 2010
- 2009
- 2008
- 2007
- 2006
- 2005
The Green Digital Finance Alliance Launched by Ant Financial and the United Nations
January, 27 2017
Global - 2016 was the hottest year on Earth since records began in 1880. For those of us who work in financial inclusion but are fearful about our lack of progress in combating climate change, the following is a spot of good news: at the recent World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Ant Financial and the United Nations Environment Program launched the Green Digital Finance Alliance
...
India: Muthoot Microfinance Raises Equity Funding from Creation Investments
January, 24 2017
India - Muthoot Pappachan Group, a diversified financial services conglomerate with presence in various other sectors spanning across hospitality, automotive, realty, IT services, healthcare, global services and alternate energy, has raised growth capital for its microfinance business from Chicago-based PE Fund Creation Investments - thereby making it the first-ever Private Equity round of funding for any of its Group companies. The Muthoot Microfin-Creation deal is the most significant one in the BFSI and microfinance space after the Indian Government’s demonetization-digital-cashless economy initiatives.
...
IFC Helps Support Smaller Business in Kazakhstan
January, 24 2017
Kazakhstan - IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has arranged for KMF, one of the leading Kazakh microfinance institutions, a financing package in Kazakh Tenge equivalent to $44 million, helping the company to support its small business customers, including women entrepreneurs.
...
Microfinance for Refugee Populations: What We’ve Learned and Where to Go Next
January, 24 2017
Global - Refugee populations have been present throughout human history, in countries all around the globe. The long, brutal and ongoing civil war in Syria and resulting migrations of Syrian refugees have, however, increased international focus on the challenges that refugees and their host countries face, as well as on how communities at the local, national and international levels can and should respond
...
EU Grants €65m to Improve Energy Access in Zambia
January, 23 2017
Zambia - It is expected to help provide access to reliable, clean and affordable electricity services to at least 63,000 households or 300,000 people, social and public infrastructure and to micro businesses
...
Beyond Access, Financial Inclusion Can Do More
January, 20 2017
Global - The sin committed by advocates of financial inclusion that has probably created a septum with the real world is the way all attention has been extorted from all other benefits financial inclusion can accrue to an individual besides mere access to financial products or services
...
India: Banking the Unbanked: MFIs Join The Digital Race
January, 19 2017
India - MFIs can mitigate risks involved in dealing with cash by switching to digital payments while customers can use safe and secure ways of making payments through mobile wallets, thus saving time and effort involved in collection and dropping off mone
...
Making Sense of Invisible Advantages in Rural African Communities
January, 18 2017
Sub-Saharan Africa - There is a definite need for development organisations and policy makers to revisit and align their development models with local realities. If properly understood and harnessed, local culture can be the basis for sustainable value creation.
...
India: Philanthropy and Impact Investing Complement Each Other
January, 18 2017
India - Many sectors that facilitate social causes in India are at a nascent stage, hence philanthropy has a distinct role to play in complementing impact investments and creating a market that can attract commercial interests later, says Geeta Goel (43), director, mission investing at Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.
...
Bringing Private Capital to Sustainable Development
January, 17 2017
Switzerland - Many private investors already contribute to the SDGs via their philanthropic activities. They are typically less willing to invest in them via their for-profit portfolios unless they earn them comparable gains. Impact investing, which aims to generate measurable social benefits as well as compelling returns, can fill this gap
...
Letshego Acquires AFB Ghana in Second West African Acquisition
January, 13 2017
Ghana - African finance group Letshego Holdings has acquired a 100% shareholding in afb Ghana Plc. afb is a licensed non-bank financial institution and offers innovative credit products to over 60,000 customers across its network of more than 25 branch and customer access points
...
Zimbabwe: Reprieve for Microfinance Institutions
January, 13 2017
Zimbabwe - “The government has begun to amend the Microfinance Act to address its shortcomings, by among other things, providing for perpetual licenses for deposit-taking MFIs, extending the tenure of the license for the credit-only microfinance institutions . . .” Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said on Tuesday
...
Visa Welcomes Opening of Myanmar’s Domestic Payments Industry
January, 12 2017
Myanmar - Visa, the leading global payments technology company, has welcomed today’s announcement from the Central Bank of Myanmar to remove restrictions on the participation of international payments companies in Myanmar’s domestic payments industry, according to a statement on 11 January
...
Nigeria Has Highest Percentage of People Living in Poverty – PwC
January, 12 2017
Nigeria - In the paper, PwC sets out what an efficient, resilient and inclusive financial system looks like across eight key dimensions; and how leading emerging markets – Nigeria, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa – rate against its ‘fit for purpose’ targets
...
Bharti Airtel Rolls Out India's First Payments Bank
January, 12 2017
India - Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said Airtel payments bank has the potential to transform lives and contribute to financial inclusion in a country where 233 million people still do not have access to banking facilities
...
Is Blockchain the Next Great Hope - or Hype?
January, 11 2017
Global - “It’s much more than about transaction efficiency or flexibility. It’s really beyond that. It could provide an identity to those who don’t have it, or promote financial inclusion. Therein lies the power of this whole thing.
...
MENA: The Growth of Green Finance
January, 09 2017
Jordan - Ultimately, policy interventions for supporting green SMEs, especially in developing nations, are urgently required to overcome major barriers, including knowledge-sharing, raising environmental awareness, enhancing financial support, supporting skill development, improving market access and implementing green taxation
...
India: Transforming the Digital Payment Infrastructure
January, 05 2017
India - A unique set of circumstances allowed M-Pesa to become ubiquitous in Kenya. Crucial among them was high mobile phone penetration (83% of the adult population had access to basic mobile phones), a widespread agent network (approximately one agent for every 1,000 Kenyans) and an enabling regulatory environment. These conditions are largely absent in India.
...
T. Ogden, Managing Director, Financial Access Initiative: Yes, Microcredit Requires Subsidies … and That’s Great News
January, 04 2017
Global - But progress on either path is unlikely without continued social investment in microfinance. Innovation requires funding, and microfinance – at least the pro-poor kind – does not generate the kind of profits necessary. If, instead, social investors pull back from the space, then not only will innovation not happen, but MFIs will be forced to cut back outreach, raise prices and pursue wealthier customers – or all three
...
Senegal to Introduce Digital Currency in Western Africa
January, 01 2017
Senegal - The African continent has emerged as a leader in digital currency and blockchain technology adoption. The West African nation of Senegal may soon contribute to the digital currency revolution by launching eCFA
...
-0.28% · 
4.56% · 
0.12% · 
product.
