Emerging markets

Prometeo aims to make business-to-business payments and remittances between the U.S. and Latin America easier and cheaper.

As the United Nations General Assembly convenes in New York to discuss global development, delegates must not overlook the importance of financial services for small businesses in emerging economies.

Ajay Banga is almost certain to become the next president of the World Bank, replacing David Malpass, who announced plans to step down almost a year early.

The payments firm Boku is uniting hundreds of fragmented mobile apps to compete with Visa and Mastercard for unbanked consumers in different regions of the world.

The urgency to streamline processes during the pandemic accentuated how digitization can also drive diversity, fairness and better environmental outcomes, says Microsoft’s Bill Borden.

Citigroup appointed Elissar Farah Antonios as the first woman to run its Middle East and North Africa operations, among the U.S. bank’s fastest-growing businesses in emerging markets.

In countries where the use of cards is less prevalent, other digital payment methods, particularly mobile wallets, are proliferating, changing the payments landscape rapidly and radically, says Standard Chartered's Tarek Elyafi.

s part of a global financial community, we must consider the long-term impact and see financial inclusion as a fundamental priority as we look to rebuild a fairer, more sustainable world, says Icon Solutions' Darren Caprehorn.

Investors have made a $10 million bet on Stori, which is pushing mobile money over a branch network to bring more consumers into Mexico's banking system.

Cold, hard currency is still a crucial part of a competitive payments strategy, particularly in massive markets like Indonesia, Korea, Japan and India, says Rapyd's Joel Yarbrough.

Fintech dLocal is expanding its API-based payments service into Nigeria and South Africa, two nations with different levels of digital payments adoption.

MFS Africa has spent the last decade building an interoperable mobile payments system linking millions of consumers in Africa, and now it’s formed a partnership with Visa to extend global card acceptance to its users.

Its approach appears to exclude retailers and small business owners––the very commercial market that would stand to benefit the most from Libra’s social mission, says HotNow's Nithinan Boonyawattanapisut.

While it takes a lot of effort from many different parties to reduce digital and financial inequality, it all starts with affordable internet connectivity, writes Sebastien Codeville, CEO of KaiOS Technologies.

These money transfers offer many transformative benefits, such as lifting recipient families out of poverty, improving health and nutrition conditions, increasing education opportunities and promoting entrepreneurship, says Raj Agrawal, CFO of Western Union.

Local payments are included in the e-commerce checkout process, allowing merchants to immediately sell products online to local customers.

One might assume, wrongly, that the successful fintech entrepreneurs are millennials who are only creating lifestyle apps for their age bracket.

Mobile money apps have proven to be a major force in building financial services in emerging economies, but under the hood they can be starkly different.

The move may prove particularly helpful in reaching rural parts of India, where the latest smartphone technology has not arrived.

Tala, based in Santa Monica, Calif., makes its loan decisions after analyzing data on the mobile phones of users in Kenya and the Philippines.