Richard Firth has paid a ransom and seen what it bought. Now the MIP Holdings CEO wants South Africa to outlaw such payments. “I think banning ransomware payments will be a powerful deterrent,” Firth told TechCentral on Tuesday. MIP, which supplies software to insurers, paid cybercrime group The Gentlemen a sum Firth described as “substantial”…
Financial technology platform Revolut has launched a trial program in the United Kingdom for “Pay with Smile,” an in-store biometric payment system that enables consumers to complete transactions using facial recognition. Positioned as the UK’s first merchant-facing facial payment platform, the service waives processing fees for participating retailers and is initially undergoing live testing across…
Nairobi — Kenyan fintech company WapiPay has partnered with Jamaica’s JN Money Services to facilitate money transfers between Africa and Jamaica. The partnership comes after Kenya opened its first resident High Commission in Kingston in July. Kenya’s High Commissioner to Jamaica, Mwenda Karisa, said the deal could support closer economic ties between the two countries….
South Africa’s banks have lost the body through which they collectively governed the national payment system. On 2 September, the Reserve Bank’s recognition of the Payments Association of South Africa as the country’s payment system management body lapsed, ending a self-regulatory arrangement that had run for 27 years. Pasa’s functions, staff and intellectual property have…
Mastercard and TeamApt Limited, a subsidiary of Moniepoint, have entered a strategic collaboration to strengthen digital payment capabilities for businesses and financial institutions across Africa. As part of this collaboration, TeamApt will operate directly on Mastercard’s global payments network as a non-bank acquirer, enhancing its ability to onboard credible and licensed entities to deliver seamless…
Moment, the pan-African payments company that grew out of MultiChoice’s fintech ambitions, has closed a US$22-million (R364-million) series-A funding round led by AlphaCode Venture Partners, taking the total it has raised since inception to $55-million. The round includes follow-on investment from existing backers General Catalyst and MultiChoice, and fresh money from Canal+, the French media…
Ozow said the API-based approach removes the need for customers to share banking credentials or complete manual EFT processes. South African fintech company Ozow has partnered with First National Bank (FNB) and Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) to launch a payment API designed to improve account-to-account payments by replacing traditional electronic fund transfer (EFT) processes with direct…
Many cross-border transactions still rely on the US dollar as an intermediary currency. At the same time, African currencies are often difficult to exchange directly, and few mechanisms exist for countries to settle payments with one another in local currencies. Cross-border payments in Africa remain among the most expensive in the world, despite the rapid…
Yoco provides card payment solutions and point-of-sale systems for SMEs. South African fintech firm Yoco is set to introduce a new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered assistant, Yoco AI, as part of a wider strategy to ease administrative workloads for small businesses, enhance decision-making and support growth. The company teased the upcoming offering at its Unfair Advantage…
Monnify processed ₦25 trillion, or about $18.3 billion, in transaction volume in 2025 as Nigerian businesses continued to rely on digital payment infrastructure. The payment gateway, which operates within Moniepoint Inc.’s technology arm TeamApt, recorded 38% growth in transaction volume compared with 2023. The growth came during a period marked by currency volatility, higher costs…
