Microfinance institutions have sent a distress call to markets regulator seeking to instruct credit rating agencies to delay the ratings on microlenders whose operations have been disrupted by the impact of COVID-19.

JCB Co Ltd (JCB) is leveraging Asia’s leading fintech player, Soft Space Sdn Bhd’s (Soft Space) technological expertise to develop the Tap on Mobile program that capitalizes on Android smartphones.

Financiers across the spectrum are struggling to trace low-ticket borrowers, about a fifth of their customers, through virtual means.

Mastercard this week expanded its worldwide commitment to financial inclusion, pledging to bring a total of 1 billion people and 50 million micro and small businesses into the digital economy by 2025.

TechSprint initiative will support the regulatory and supervisory responses against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The partnership aims to address key issues facing the industry, including business continuity, lack of funding, and brand awareness.

Additional liquidity bolsters financial network’s ability to deliver financial services to low-income entrepreneurs.

To help financial institutions during this coronavirus crisis, fintechs stepped up to help with contactless person-to-person mobile payments.

COVID-19 has closed bank and credit union (CU) branches across the United States, sending the demand for digital banking solutions soaring as consumers hop online to manage their finances from home.

As contactless payments become the norm amid the worldwide pandemic response, China rolled out its digital currency this month in four cities, setting it up to become the world’s first cashless society.