The B.B.C reported today that Apple’s iTunes and iBooks services have been suspended in China. This puts Apple’s Apple Pay in China mobile payments plans in jeopardy. Apple Pay seems to have be saved the chop but it is not clear whether it will survive future purges. The Chinese Government has taken this step after […]
Monthly Archives: April 2016
How Sidian formerly K-Rep Bank wants to find its groove with mobile tech.
K-Rep was the stuffy, NGO-esque bank with dull, staid brown at its offices and branches, that advertised as the bank for microfinance. Its dull staid name was derived from an acronym. Yes, an acronym. The Kenya Rural Enterprise Programme. Initially headquartered in Kawangware the bank that set out to be the people’s bank watched as […]
Old bankers don’t steal, they just borrow without security : Lessons from Chase Bank on how FinTech alone can’t save a bank.
Chase Bank (no relation to its American namesake) was placed under receivership last week. The bank often touted itself as a key leader in FinTech and banking innovation in Kenya. When it shut its doors last week 55,000 account holders – mostly tech savvy, upwardly mobile youth – were left stranded. KES 92 Billion (USD […]
New M-PESA menu now includes KCB M-PESA
Safaricom C.E.O Bob Collymore this morning on Twitter revealed a new M-PESA menu that includes KCB’s KCB M-PESA mobile loans and savings service. The new menu appears to have been rolled out to Safaricom’s STK overnight. The KCB-MPESA item may be accessed via a new Mikopo na Akiba (Savings and Loans) menu item that has […]
Branch raises USD 9.6M from Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla and Formation 8 in Series A
Mobile-based financial services company Branch announced Thursday last week it had raised a Series A equity funding round of USD 9.6 million (KES 1B), as it positions itself for further growth and expansion into new markets. The funding will allow for the expansion of the startup’s operations, hiring talent in Kenya as well as expansion […]