How should African companies approach fintech?
Whether you realise it or not, there's a good chance your company is using a financial technology (fintech) product. And even if by some slim chance it isn't, chances are it will be in the near future. That's as true in Africa as it is anywhere else in the world. In...
Fintech and the challenge of Treating Customers Fairly
Fintech businesses need to apply Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) principles when designing new products and services, especially considering the digital divide, writes Lerato Lamola, associate director at Webber Wentzel. The future of financial services is...
Removing barriers to entry crucial to growing SA’s insurance sector
On the face of it, South Africa has a robust and competitive insurance sector. Though there may be more than 170 or so companies playing in the insurance space, if you dig a little deeper, it becomes evident that it's actually quite concentrated and difficult to break...
Financial services optimise efficiency ratios with enterprise intelligence
In my role as chief product and technology officer for FICO, I meet frequently with C-level executives in the financial services sector, looking to squeeze competitive advantage out of their data, writes Bill Waid, chief product and technology officer at FICO. In our...
Earned wage access hands SA women a lifeline
South Africa celebrates Women's Month in August with the theme "Accelerating Socio-Economic Opportunities for Women's Empowerment", and The African Union has declared 2020 to 2030 as the Decade of Women's Financial and Economic Inclusion. But, despite advances made in...
Insurtech’s are disrupting by putting the customer first
More than a decade ago, the customer's purchasing journey was very different from what we see today. By Mishaya Chettiar, executive head at Everything.Insure Prior to the advent of the digital consumer, customers were essentially presented with a variety of brands...
Banks that ignore humans in digital transformation certain to fail
For hundreds of years banks have put financial excellence at the heart of their operations. But as traditional banks rush to compete with the nimbler fintechs and digital-only challenger banks, too many leaders are neglecting the human element of their digital...
ESG makes business sense for African fintechs
If you're reading this, there's a very good chance you're already familiar with the acronym ESG. By Funmi Dele-Giwa, general counsel and head of GRC at MFS Africa Standing for "environmental", "social", and "governance", it's a constantly evolving standard that...
Geopolitical dynamics reshape the cross-border payment landscape
The evolving cross-border payment landscape is witnessing noteworthy developments beyond traditional systems. By Harsha Maloo, head of payments at Synthesis One notable trend is the plan by BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) to establish...
Blockchain makes crypto asset transactions transparent, traceable
At the 2023 Digital Assets and Sanctions Compliance Conference, Lerato-Lamola Oguntoye participated in a panel discussion on the regulation of crypto assets in South Africa and globally. The conference highlighted how distributed ledger technology/blockchain...
AI is coming for the forex sector …
Artificial intelligence (AI) is riding high at the moment, in no small part thanks to the booming popularity of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Midjourney. Unsurprisingly, that means that people in almost every industry and sector are wondering how AI will...
How to avoid online trading mistakes
Online trading platforms have made it possible for even the most novice traders to transact in their own time and on their own terms. Trading in financial instruments such as bonds, cryptocurrency, stock indices and forex has never been simpler or more convenient....