Consumer use of mobile finance, banking and insurance apps jumped 71 percent in 2019. In 2020, however, they’ve gone from nice-to-have to essential.

All major state-owned and private banks have stopped lending to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) due to concerns about their financial health.

These efforts are helping to deliver immediate relief to frontline workers and populations within communities most impacted, as well as supporting longer-term investments in programs focused on economic recovery and financial stability.

Use of contactless mobile payments — services that once struggled to catch on in the U.S. — is surging as people come to see their phones as the safer way to pay.

In response to the economic disruption from COVID-19 pandemic, the Central Bank of Kenya announced a set of directives promoting digital transactions to curb the spread of COVID-19. These directives have significantly impacted the banks and mobile money agencies.

Tucked into corners of grocery stores, gas stations and transit hubs, crypto ATMs are still allowed to operate amid the coronavirus contagion event. And some are thriving.

The coronavirus pandemic has magnified and exposed social imbalances in the region – underscoring the importance of financial inclusion as well as environmental, social and corporate governance.

Small non-bank lenders plan to come together and sell bonds that make the cut for bank financing.

Tech firms see the opportunity they’ve been waiting for as shoppers and business recoil from paper money. Who’s hurt when legal tender goes away?

The lockdown has brought the collection operations of microfinance institutions (MFIs) to a halt, as about 95 percent of the loan repayments are still done through cash.