Fintech & Payments
The latest Fintech & Payments stories, scored against the thesis and threaded over time.
South Africa's ATM Plan: the poorest pay 5% of their income just to touch their own money
That single number from the Reserve Bank's own research should stop anyone in their tracks. South Africans earning under R1,250 a month spend roughly 5% of their income on cash-related costs — fees, travel to distant machines, repeat…
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What’s developing right now — ranked by recency, momentum, and importance.
- 1
Six African Fintechs Tracking Toward IPO, Mostly on Offshore Exchanges
Latest: OPay IPO filing draws governance criticism over missing employee stock options and exposes lending unit economics of $2.55 revenue per $10 lent
- 2
Airtel Money Adds Mastercard Virtual Card to Deepen Kenya Mobile Money Competition With M-Pesa
Latest: Mastercard and Qatar Holding sell down stakes as Airtel Money's London listing value is confirmed at $7 billion, marking a landmark investor exit from African mobile money
- 3
MNT-Halan Raises $82 Million in Debt Ahead of Cairo IPO
Latest: Quickmart discloses termination of founder-linked related-party contracts, setting a governance precedent ahead of its NSE listing
- 4
BCEAO Doubles E-Money Wallet Cap to 4 Million FCFA Across UEMOA Zone
Latest: New reporting frames BCEAO rule changes as materially shifting mobile money deposit economics across the sub-region
- 5
J.P. Morgan to Launch Nigerian Merchant Bank Before Year-End
Latest: French-language reporting confirms J.P. Morgan's Nigeria investment bank is planned for launch before end-2026, reinforcing the signal of top-tier global confidence in the market.
- 6
Cascador and Sterling Bank Launch $200 Million Fund to Derisk Startup and SME Loans in Nigeria
Latest: Additional reporting confirms the $200 million Sterling-Cascador SME fund structure, describing it as a landmark credit backstop with $1 billion total lending potential
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- 2026-10-17TakeUnverified — not yet reviewed
SA ATM Network Biggest Overhaul
That single number from the Reserve Bank's own research should stop anyone in their tracks. South Africans earning under R1,250 a month spend roughly 5% of their income on cash-related costs — fees,…
- 2026-10-17TakeUnverified — not yet reviewed
Onafriq Exits Nigeria Agent Banking
The naira depreciation and rising costs are real. But the mechanism that actually broke Baxi's economics is simpler: Nigerians stopped needing to queue at a POS terminal.
- 2026-10-17TakeUnverified — not yet reviewed
Ethiopia Joins PAPSS Network
Ethiopia joining PAPSS matters — 130 million people and one of Africa's fastest-growing economies now have a formal path into the continental payments network.
- 2026-10-17TakeUnverified — not yet reviewed
Paystack Moves Into Deposits
Paystack launched Zap, its consumer savings app, while still holding only a payments licence — the kind that lets you move money, not keep it. Nigeria's central bank fined it ₦250 million for exactly…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
Roqqu to Tokenise Nigerian Stocks
Nigerian crypto platform Roqqu has disclosed plans to tokenise equities listed on the Nigerian stock market, raising questions about regulatory approvals and market access frameworks. The proposal is…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
Moniepoint's Split Financials Exposed
UK regulatory filings for Moniepoint reveal a structural split between a profitable technology services arm and a loss-making payments operation. The disclosures offer rare transparency into the…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
PalmPay UK's £21M Loss
PalmPay's UK entity has posted a £21.3 million loss and written off a £3.65 million loan, according to regulatory filings. The figures reveal financial stress at the holding-company level of one of…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
MoneyHash-Ozow SA Payments Link
Egypt-based payment orchestration platform MoneyHash has integrated South African payments firm Ozow into its network, lowering merchant onboarding friction for cross-border transactions into South…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
BCEAO Adds Market Liquidity
The BCEAO has conducted a liquidity injection into West African financial markets, representing a concrete monetary policy action with implications for credit conditions across the eight-member UEMOA…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
KIFC Eyes Pan-African Finance Hub
An interview with Hortense Mudenge, Director General of the Kigali International Financial Centre, outlines Rwanda's continued positioning as a hub for pan-African financial services and investment.…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
Nigeria Contactless Payments Still Stuck
New documentation of Nigeria's contactless payment market finds adoption remains low despite the country's broader fintech expansion, with infrastructure readiness, consumer behaviour and merchant…
- 2026-10-17Unverified — not yet reviewed
Kuunda Co-Founder Andrew Milne Dies
Andrew Milne, co-founder of South African lending-as-a-service startup Kuunda and a pioneer of credit access for African small businesses, has died at 54. His passing follows days after Kuunda…
- 2026-10-16TakeUnverified — not yet reviewed
Airtel Money $7bn London Float
The offer priced below what institutional investors had hoped for. Shares slipped on debut. The valuation landed at $7 billion, not the $8–9 billion that was being whispered.
- 2026-10-16TakeUnverified — not yet reviewed
$200m Nigeria SME Credit Fund
The uncomfortable truth about Nigerian SME lending is that banks don't lack money — they lack a way to trust the borrower. Cascador's model doesn't solve that by throwing more capital at the problem.
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
Fitch Upgrades Nine Nigerian Banks
Fitch Ratings has revised the outlooks of nine Nigerian banks and two bank holding companies upward, signalling improved macro stability. The move is expected to unlock credit appetite and improve…
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
MNT-Halan's Lending Legal Burden
An analysis of Egyptian fintech MNT-Halan finds the company initiates approximately one lawsuit per every 15 borrowers, exposing structural legal costs embedded in its high-inflation mass-market…
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
SBM Kenya Capital Falls Short
SBM Bank Kenya has reported KSh9.7 billion in non-performing loans alongside a capital adequacy ratio that has fallen below the regulatory minimum. The combination is raising questions about…
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
Nigeria Govt Debt Crowds Out Credit
Analysis of Nigeria's credit market finds that government domestic debt service — which reached N5.28 trillion in the first half of 2026 according to the DMO — is crowding out private business…
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
Nigeria Inflation Hits 14.63%
Nigeria's inflation rate fell to 14.63 percent in September 2026, marking the fourth consecutive monthly decline and the lowest reading since 2025. The trend strengthens the case for further central…
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
SA Banks' AI Home Loan Race
South African banks and fintechs are deploying AI-driven home loan origination tools, with analysts framing the competition as a battle over who owns the mortgage client relationship. The shift is…
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
Nigeria FX Demand 15-Year Peak
Nigeria's foreign exchange demand reached $18.34 billion in the second quarter of 2026, a 15-year high that signals surging services and financial outflows placing pressure on the naira. The figure…
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
Moniepoint UK Early Revenue Signal
Moniepoint UK has reported $36,284 in revenue following its absorption of customers from MonieWorld, providing an early but limited signal of diaspora remittance traction. Analysts note the scale…
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
Kuunda Co-Founder Milne Dies
Andrew Milne, co-founder and co-CEO of South African lending-as-a-service startup Kuunda, has died at 54, days after the company completed a $5 million secondary share sale led by E4E Africa. The…
- 2026-10-16Unverified — not yet reviewed
Ghana's GoldBod FX Play
Ghana's GoldBod foreign exchange framework is being positioned as a mechanism to make dollar supply more predictable, according to analyst Theo Acheampong. The framework could directly affect…