In this episode

• South African Banks Join Global Push for AI Agent Payments via Stablecoins — We've been tracking the emergence of agentic commerce standards like the x402 protocol and Stripe's MPP.
• AI-Powered Payment Middleware Using Stablecoins Aims to Automate B2B Cross-Border Trade — Stables, a Singapore-based startup, is developing AI-native payment middleware that uses stablecoins to bypass…
• Stablecoins Target $100T B2B Payments Market as Settlement Rail, S&P Global Finds — A new S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis concludes that stablecoins are emerging as a viable settlement rail for…
• HSBC Joins Asian Working Group to Define Liability Rules for AI-Driven Payments — The unresolved question of liability for AI-initiated transactions—which we noted recently in Visa's agentic commerce…
• Open-Source 'Wallet-as-a-Service for AI' Emerges to Give Agents Autonomous Economic Power — Adding to the wave of 'agentic commerce' tools we've tracked from Visa, Stripe, and Tempo, a new open-source project…
• Nigeria Sets July 31 Deadline for Large Companies to Adopt E-Invoicing — Nigeria's Revenue Service (NRS) has mandated that large taxpayer companies must comply with its national electronic…
• Mastercard Partners With Yellow Card to Deploy Stablecoin Payments in Africa — Mastercard has announced a strategic collaboration with crypto exchange Yellow Card to deploy stablecoin payment…
• South Africa Sees 155% Surge in Digital Wallet Transaction Value — South Africa is experiencing a massive shift in payment preferences, with the total transaction value of digital…
• M-Pesa Enhances Privacy with Masked Phone Numbers in P2P Transfers — Safaricom's M-Pesa has rolled out a new privacy feature that partially masks the sender's phone number and reduces the…
• Nigeria's Official FX Market Strengthens as CBN Reforms Take Hold, Weakening Parallel Market — The Central Bank of Nigeria's aggressive recent interventions—including the deployment of a real-time digital tracker…
• Nigerian Banks May Need to Raise N1.7 Trillion More Under Tougher CBN Holdco Rules — Following up on the CBN's proposed ring-fencing rules and 20% capital buffers for financial holding companies we noted…
• Ghana's SEC Greenlights 11 Crypto Companies for Regulatory Sandbox — Hot on the heels of Ghana's parliament passing the VASP Bill to legalize cryptocurrency services, the country's…

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:56 AI-Powered Payment Middleware Using Stablecoins Aims to Automate B2B Cross-Bord…
01:30 Stablecoins Target $100T B2B Payments Market as Settlement Rail, S&P Global Fin…
02:08 HSBC Joins Asian Working Group to Define Liability Rules for AI-Driven Payments
02:44 Open-Source 'Wallet-as-a-Service for AI' Emerges to Give Agents Autonomous Econ…
03:19 Nigeria Sets July 31 Deadline for Large Companies to Adopt E-Invoicing
03:54 Mastercard Partners With Yellow Card to Deploy Stablecoin Payments in Africa
04:24 South Africa Sees 155% Surge in Digital Wallet Transaction Value
04:55 M-Pesa Enhances Privacy with Masked Phone Numbers in P2P Transfers
05:27 Nigeria's Official FX Market Strengthens as CBN Reforms Take Hold, Weakening Pa…
06:22 Ghana's SEC Greenlights 11 Crypto Companies for Regulatory Sandbox
06:55 Wrap-up

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In this episode

• Spendin’ Expands to Francophone Africa with Instant XAF/XOF Stablecoin & Fiat Payouts — Spendin', a fintech positioning itself as the 'Revolut of Africa,' announced on Sunday it has expanded its instant…
• Stripe-Backed Tempo Launches Open Protocol for AI Agent Payments — Adding to the wave of 'agentic commerce' infrastructure we've been tracking, Stripe-backed blockchain startup Tempo…
• Standard Bank Authorized to Clear Yuan Payments Across 19 African Countries — The People's Bank of China (PBoC) has authorized Standard Bank to operate the Renminbi (RMB) Clearing Bank of Africa…
• AI-Powered Invoicing and Automation Gains Traction Among SMEs — An interview on Saturday with the founder of Pop A.I Automations, Pelumi Ololade Pelumi, highlights the increasing…
• Kenyan SMEs Adopt Custom Software to Bridge M-Pesa and KRA Integration Gaps — Small and medium-sized enterprises in Nairobi are increasingly commissioning custom software to overcome operational…
• 'Friendly Fraud' Accounts for 86% of Chargebacks, New Analysis Shows — A new analysis published Sunday estimates that 'friendly fraud'—where legitimate customers dispute valid charges—now…
• South Africa's SARB Hikes Repo Rate to 7.0% to Curb Inflation — In an unexpected move, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) hiked its repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.0%, reversing…
• Safaricom Clarifies M-Pesa GlobalPay and Paybill Dispute Processes — Safaricom issued clarifications this weekend regarding dispute resolution for its M-Pesa services.
• Zakhaa Pay Launches NFC Wristband for Cashless Payments in South Africa's Informal Sector — South African fintech Zakhaa Pay has launched the Leruo NFC Wristband, a wearable payment device targeting the…
• SARB Flags Risks from Unregulated Stablecoin Trading in South Africa — The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has again voiced concerns over the risks from the country's lack of a…
• Fraudsters Evolve from Simple Proxies to Full Identity Simulation Stacks — The fraud arms race driving the industry's adoption of behavioral analytics continues to escalate.
• Ghana Passes Bill to Legalize and Regulate Cryptocurrency Services — Building on the sweeping Cyber and Information Security Directive introduced last week, Ghana's parliament has…

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:58 Stripe-Backed Tempo Launches Open Protocol for AI Agent Payments
01:34 Standard Bank Authorized to Clear Yuan Payments Across 19 African Countries
02:07 AI-Powered Invoicing and Automation Gains Traction Among SMEs
02:37 Kenyan SMEs Adopt Custom Software to Bridge M-Pesa and KRA Integration Gaps
03:08 'Friendly Fraud' Accounts for 86% of Chargebacks, New Analysis Shows
04:08 Safaricom Clarifies M-Pesa GlobalPay and Paybill Dispute Processes
04:40 Zakhaa Pay Launches NFC Wristband for Cashless Payments in South Africa's Infor…
05:10 SARB Flags Risks from Unregulated Stablecoin Trading in South Africa
05:40 Fraudsters Evolve from Simple Proxies to Full Identity Simulation Stacks
06:11 Ghana Passes Bill to Legalize and Regulate Cryptocurrency Services

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In this episode

• Nigeria's CBN Deploys Digital Tracker and Tightens Rules for Retail Forex Market — As part of the broader retail forex framework we tracked earlier this week—which launched the FX BDC Purchase Tracker…
• Nigeria Establishes CBN-Led Council to Harmonize Virtual Asset Regulation — On Friday, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu signed an executive order creating the country's first coordinated regulatory…
• Ghana Rolls Out Sweeping Digital Finance Regulations Covering AI, Crypto, and Cloud Security — Following up on the Bank of Ghana's recent revocation of Zeepay's e-money license and the finalization of digital asset…
• South Africa's Prudential Authority Tightens Scrutiny on AI in Banking — South Africa's Prudential Authority (PA) is increasing its supervision of technology risks in the banking sector, with…
• Survey: 70% of African Finance Professionals See Fraud Risk Rising with Digital Payment Growth — A new survey by ITWeb and ACI Worldwide published Saturday reveals that 70% of African respondents believe fraud risk…
• Visa Unveils Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) Consolidating Fraud and Dispute Tracking — Visa is replacing its various fraud and dispute monitoring programs with a single global framework called the Visa…
• AI-Driven Fraud Pushes Financial Firms Towards Behavioral Analytics and Unified Platforms — In response to the escalating AI-driven fraud arms race we've been tracking—which has increasingly overwhelmed…
• Paystack Deepens Pesalink Integration to Enable Direct Bank Transfers at Checkout in Kenya — Adding crucial detail to Paystack's integration with Pesalink that we noted yesterday: the newly enabled direct…
• SARS Centralizes Tax Residency Status, Clarifying Emigration Rules — South Africa's tax authority, SARS, has streamlined the process for declaring non-residency for tax purposes, becoming…
• AWS Billing Console Glitch Displays Erroneous Multi-Billion Dollar Charges — On Thursday, AWS's Billing and Cost Management Console began displaying wildly inaccurate projected costs for customers…
• Safaricom and Visa Report M-Pesa GlobalPay Virtual Card Hits 316,000 Users — Safaricom and Visa announced Friday that their M-Pesa GlobalPay Virtual Card now has over 316,000 active users.
• Failed Government Bond Auction Signals Weak Demand for South African Debt — South Africa's government failed to sell any inflation-linked bonds at its weekly auction on Friday, receiving no bids…

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:52 Nigeria Establishes CBN-Led Council to Harmonize Virtual Asset Regulation
01:27 Ghana Rolls Out Sweeping Digital Finance Regulations Covering AI, Crypto, and C…
02:06 South Africa's Prudential Authority Tightens Scrutiny on AI in Banking
02:43 Survey: 70% of African Finance Professionals See Fraud Risk Rising with Digital…
03:17 Visa Unveils Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) Consolidating Fraud and Dispute…
03:50 AI-Driven Fraud Pushes Financial Firms Towards Behavioral Analytics and Unified…
04:29 Paystack Deepens Pesalink Integration to Enable Direct Bank Transfers at Checko…
05:01 SARS Centralizes Tax Residency Status, Clarifying Emigration Rules
05:31 AWS Billing Console Glitch Displays Erroneous Multi-Billion Dollar Charges
06:30 Failed Government Bond Auction Signals Weak Demand for South African Debt

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In this episode

• Nigeria's Central Bank Launches Real-Time FX Tracker for BDCs, Mandates 24-Hour Resale of Unused Dollars — As the Central Bank of Nigeria continues its interventions to stabilize tightening Naira liquidity, the regulator on…
• Visa Report: AI Agents Require Dual-Track Payment System of Cards and Stablecoins — Building on its recent agentic commerce pilots and its backing of the Linux Foundation's new x402 protocol, Visa…
• Ghana and Tanzania Finalize New Regulatory Frameworks for Digital Assets — The Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) are both finalizing sweeping new regulatory frameworks for…
• Paystack Deepens Pesalink Integration for Direct Bank Payments in Kenya — Paystack on Thursday expanded its partnership with Pesalink, Kenya's instant interbank transfer network, to allow…
• AI-Driven 'Friendly Fraud' and Fake Invoices Emerge as Top Threats — Following the data we recently tracked showing friendly fraud now accounts for the vast majority of chargebacks, new…
• Nigeria's Net FX Reserves Surge to $40 Billion, Diaspora Remittances Targeted at $1B Monthly — Confirming the upward trajectory in external reserves we noted earlier this week, CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso…
• Ghana Mandates Biometric Verification for National ID, Banning Photocopies — As of Thursday, Ghana's National Identification Authority (NIA) has made biometric verification of the national ID card…
• Visa Launches Enterprise Stablecoin Platform for Banks and Fintechs — Visa on Thursday unveiled a new enterprise platform to help banks, fintechs, and merchants integrate stablecoin…
• AWS CloudFront Outage Disrupts Global Services, Including PayPay — A significant Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage occurred on Thursday, impacting its CloudFront content delivery network.
• Report: Nigerian Consumers Lead AI Adoption in E-commerce — A new DHL eCommerce report released Thursday reveals that Nigerian consumers are outpacing global peers in the adoption…
• Analysis: South Africa's Special Economic Zones Fail Due to Structural Flaws — Despite a World Bank recommendation to expand tax incentives, an analysis published Thursday argues that South Africa's…

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:00 Visa Report: AI Agents Require Dual-Track Payment System of Cards and Stablecoi…
01:43 Ghana and Tanzania Finalize New Regulatory Frameworks for Digital Assets
02:22 Paystack Deepens Pesalink Integration for Direct Bank Payments in Kenya
02:58 AI-Driven 'Friendly Fraud' and Fake Invoices Emerge as Top Threats
03:37 Nigeria's Net FX Reserves Surge to $40 Billion, Diaspora Remittances Targeted a…
04:15 Ghana Mandates Biometric Verification for National ID, Banning Photocopies
04:53 Visa Launches Enterprise Stablecoin Platform for Banks and Fintechs
05:31 AWS CloudFront Outage Disrupts Global Services, Including PayPay
06:04 Report: Nigerian Consumers Lead AI Adoption in E-commerce
06:39 Analysis: South Africa's Special Economic Zones Fail Due to Structural Flaws
07:12 Wrap-up

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In this episode

• Stripe Details Production-Grade AI for Optimizing Authorizations, Fraud, and Cross-Border Pricing — Building on the Adaptive Checkout and Radar 3.0 rollouts we've tracked, Stripe is now detailing its use of AI beyond…
• Stripe and Advent Reportedly Bid $53B for PayPal, Threatening Major Shake-up in Global Payments — Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have reportedly made a $53 billion takeover bid for PayPal…
• NVIDIA Details Rise of 'Payment Foundation Models' for Contextual Fraud Detection and Agentic Commerce — Pahal Patangia, head of payments and fintech at NVIDIA, detailed the emergence of 'payment foundation models'—AI models…
• Linux Foundation Launches x402 Standard for AI Agent Payments, Backed by AWS, Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe — Following the live agentic payment pilots from Mastercard and Stripe we covered earlier this week, the infrastructure…
• Fraud Pressure Intensifies in Africa with Cairo and Accra as Global Hotspots, Report Finds — Putting hard numbers to the surge in West African fraud we've been tracking, Accertify's Q2 2026 Global Air Travel…
• SARB to Tighten Forex Rules with New BoP Codes Effective August 11 — The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is implementing updated Balance of Payments (BoP) reporting codes, effective…
• JCB and Circle Partner to Explore USDC Stablecoin Payments for 40 Million Merchants — Japanese credit card giant JCB has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Circle to explore integrating USDC…
• Moniepoint Acquires Sumac Microfinance Bank in Kenya, Appoints Former Branch CEO to Lead Operations — Fresh off upgrading its Nigerian operating license to national status, Moniepoint has confirmed its expansion into…
• Interswitch Profits Driven Almost Entirely by Nigeria, Highlighting Single-Market Risk — Pan-African payments company Interswitch reported a NGN 23 billion (KES 1.98 billion) pre-tax profit for its 2025…
• Airtel Money Quietly Raises M-PESA Transfer Fees to Match Safaricom's Rates — Airtel Money has discreetly increased its fees for cross-network transfers to M-PESA wallets, with the new tariff…
• Dangote Refinery's Shift to USD Pricing Receives Regulatory Backing in Nigeria — Adding a new layer to the severe FX liquidity squeeze we've been tracking, Nigeria's petroleum regulator has confirmed…
• Analysis of Zeepay's License Revocation Highlights Governance Gaps in African Fintech — Following yesterday's abrupt revocation of Zeepay's e-money license by the Bank of Ghana, industry analysis is focusing…

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:52 Stripe and Advent Reportedly Bid $53B for PayPal, Threatening Major Shake-up in…
01:32 NVIDIA Details Rise of 'Payment Foundation Models' for Contextual Fraud Detecti…
02:07 Linux Foundation Launches x402 Standard for AI Agent Payments, Backed by AWS, V…
02:40 Fraud Pressure Intensifies in Africa with Cairo and Accra as Global Hotspots, R…
03:17 SARB to Tighten Forex Rules with New BoP Codes Effective August 11
03:49 JCB and Circle Partner to Explore USDC Stablecoin Payments for 40 Million Merch…
04:20 Moniepoint Acquires Sumac Microfinance Bank in Kenya, Appoints Former Branch CE…
04:51 Interswitch Profits Driven Almost Entirely by Nigeria, Highlighting Single-Mark…
05:21 Airtel Money Quietly Raises M-PESA Transfer Fees to Match Safaricom's Rates
06:22 Analysis of Zeepay's License Revocation Highlights Governance Gaps in African F…
06:53 Wrap-up

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In this episode

• Kenya's High Court Upholds Joint Liability for Safaricom and DTB in SIM Swap Fraud — Following the initial High Court ruling we tracked yesterday, Kenya's High Court has officially dismissed the appeals…
• Bank of Ghana Revokes Zeepay's E-Money License Over Regulatory Breaches — The Bank of Ghana on Tuesday revoked the electronic money issuer license of Zeepay Ghana Ltd, a major cross-border…
• Licensed Stablecoin Settlement Corridors Launch in East Africa to Tackle USD Scarcity — Swiss-based SCRYPT has launched licensed stablecoin settlement infrastructure in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda.
• Nigerian Startup Clea Uses Stablecoins for B2B Payments, Tackling Forex Crisis — Nigerian startup Clea is gaining traction by using stablecoins as a settlement rail to help local importers pay foreign…
• Surge in AI-Driven Fraud in West Africa Prompts Omnichannel Defense Strategy — Organizations across West Africa are adopting omnichannel communication and security strategies to combat a surge in…
• Rwanda's eKash Goes Live with $0.014 Fee Cap, Driving Payment Interoperability — Following the central bank mandate we noted yesterday, Rwanda has officially launched the eKash national instant…
• INETCO Launches Agentic AI Tool to Automate and Accelerate Fraud Investigations — INETCO has launched BullzAI Investigate, an agentic AI module designed for banks and payment providers to drastically…
• Safaricom Launches 'Shiriki Pay' for Shared M-PESA Merchant Payments — Safaricom on Tuesday launched 'Shiriki Pay,' a new M-PESA feature that allows an account holder to authorize other…
• Morocco Unbundles Card Payments, Opening Merchant Acquiring to Fintechs — After a decade-long effort, Morocco's central bank and competition watchdog have finalized the unbundling of the…
• First Abu Dhabi Bank Clears Legal Hurdle for South African Banking License — South Africa's top appeals court has dismissed a nearly decade-long trademark challenge from FirstRand, clearing a…
• CBN Reiterates Data Localization and Beneficial Owner Mandates for Nigeria — The Central Bank of Nigeria is doubling down on the January 2027 payment data localization mandate we've been tracking.
• Package-Forwarding Services Create 'Hidden Pipeline' for Global Brands into Africa — African consumers are increasingly buying from global giants like Amazon and Walmart by using intermediary…

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:54 Bank of Ghana Revokes Zeepay's E-Money License Over Regulatory Breaches
01:34 Licensed Stablecoin Settlement Corridors Launch in East Africa to Tackle USD Sc…
02:14 Nigerian Startup Clea Uses Stablecoins for B2B Payments, Tackling Forex Crisis
02:51 Surge in AI-Driven Fraud in West Africa Prompts Omnichannel Defense Strategy
03:30 Rwanda's eKash Goes Live with $0.014 Fee Cap, Driving Payment Interoperability
04:03 INETCO Launches Agentic AI Tool to Automate and Accelerate Fraud Investigations
04:38 Safaricom Launches 'Shiriki Pay' for Shared M-PESA Merchant Payments
05:16 Morocco Unbundles Card Payments, Opening Merchant Acquiring to Fintechs
05:50 First Abu Dhabi Bank Clears Legal Hurdle for South African Banking License
06:24 CBN Reiterates Data Localization and Beneficial Owner Mandates for Nigeria
06:56 Package-Forwarding Services Create 'Hidden Pipeline' for Global Brands into Afr…
07:31 Wrap-up

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In this episode

• Visa & Mastercard Cut Authorization Hold Window to 25 Days, Risking Pre-Order Sales — Effective July 2026, Visa and Mastercard have significantly shortened the validity period for payment authorizations…
• Luno Challenges South Africa's Proposed Crypto Capital Flow Rules as Potentially Unconstitutional — Following through on the pushback against the draft capital controls we noted last week, cryptocurrency exchange Luno…
• Paystack Launches 'Index' to Enable AI-Driven Payments in Nigeria — The 'agentic commerce' race we've been tracking globally has explicitly arrived in Nigeria.
• Circle Launches 'Nanopayments' Testnet for Gas-Free, Sub-Cent USDC Transfers for AI Agents — Adding to the stablecoin infrastructure for AI agents that we covered yesterday, Circle has launched its Nanopayments…
• US Crypto Firm Hurupay Exits Kenya and Nigeria Amid AML Scrutiny — Following up on the restriction of its Kenyan USD banking services we reported on Sunday, crypto processing firm…
• Rwanda Mandates eKash for National Payments, While Forcing Switch Operator Out of Wallet Business — As Rwanda works to link its RSwitch network to Tanzania's instant payment system, its central bank is enforcing a…
• Naira Weakens Despite CBN Intervention as FX Demand Persists — Despite the Central Bank of Nigeria injecting a reported $250 million over the past two weeks—though some earlier…
• Peach Payments CISO: 'Agentic Commerce' Requires New Security Models for AI-Driven Transactions — As the protocol layer for 'agentic commerce' solidifies, security leaders are beginning to outline the defensive…
• South Africa's FSCA Outlines Slow, Deliberate Fintech Regulatory Roadmap to 2029 — South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has released its three-year regulation plan, revealing a slow…
• Tanzania and Rwanda Finalize Technical Framework for Instant Cross-Border Payments — Following up on the Proof of Concept we noted over the weekend, Tanzania and Rwanda have finalized the technical…
• Safaricom & DTB Bank Found Jointly Liable for SIM Swap Fraud in Kenyan High Court Ruling — In a significant ruling on Monday, Kenya's High Court upheld a decision finding both Safaricom and Diamond Trust Bank…

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:01 Luno Challenges South Africa's Proposed Crypto Capital Flow Rules as Potentiall…
01:42 Paystack Launches 'Index' to Enable AI-Driven Payments in Nigeria
02:17 Circle Launches 'Nanopayments' Testnet for Gas-Free, Sub-Cent USDC Transfers fo…
02:48 US Crypto Firm Hurupay Exits Kenya and Nigeria Amid AML Scrutiny
03:20 Rwanda Mandates eKash for National Payments, While Forcing Switch Operator Out…
03:53 Naira Weakens Despite CBN Intervention as FX Demand Persists
04:27 Peach Payments CISO: 'Agentic Commerce' Requires New Security Models for AI-Dri…
05:00 South Africa's FSCA Outlines Slow, Deliberate Fintech Regulatory Roadmap to 2029
05:33 Tanzania and Rwanda Finalize Technical Framework for Instant Cross-Border Payme…
06:04 Safaricom & DTB Bank Found Jointly Liable for SIM Swap Fraud in Kenyan High Cou…
06:34 Wrap-up

Read the full briefing with sources →

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In this episode

• Mastercard Launches 'Agent Pay for Machines,' Adds Stablecoin Rails for AI Microtransactions — Following the rollout of 'agentic commerce' tools from Visa, Stripe, and Google that we've been tracking, Mastercard…
• AIsa Raises $6.5M to Build Transaction Network for AI Agent Economy, Integrates Stablecoin Settlement — AIsa, a San Francisco startup building a transaction network for the AI agent economy, announced on Sunday it has…
• Agentic Payments Go Live, Riding Stablecoins as Invisible Rails for Conversational Commerce — Real-world pilots for AI agent-initiated payments are now live, with processors like Stripe, Adyen, and Mastercard…
• UK Places AWS, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle Under Direct Financial Sector Supervision — Formalizing the move we flagged over the weekend, the UK has officially designated the cloud operations of Amazon Web…
• Circle Secures Federal Trust Charter, Legitimizing USDC as Regulated Settlement Infrastructure — Circle received final approval from the U.S.
• Central Bank of Central African States (BEAC) Joins Pan-African Payment System PAPSS — Following up on the initial integration we flagged last week, the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) has officially…
• Standard Bank Authorized to Clear Yuan Payments Across 19 African Countries — Expanding on the South African clearing mandate we noted yesterday, Standard Bank announced on Monday it has been…
• Nigeria's FX Market Turnover Plummets 47% in One Week — Nigeria's official foreign exchange market is experiencing a sharp reversal: after the CBN injected liquidity and…
• Fintech Startup Future Forex Challenges South African Banks on FX Margins — On Monday, South African fintech Future Forex highlighted how it is challenging traditional banks by offering…
• SARB Confirms Development of Crypto Regulatory Frameworks — The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and its Prudential Authority are actively developing regulatory frameworks for…
• Nigerian Fintech Nearpays Wins UN 'AI for Good' Award for Tap-on-Phone Payment Tech — Nigerian fintech startup Nearpays won the United Nations' 'AI for Good Innovation Factory' grand finale, it was…
• High Court Orders Safaricom to Pay KSh 1.4 Billion for IP Infringement on Mobile Wallet Idea — The Kenyan High Court has ordered Safaricom to pay innovator Peter Nthei Muoki KSh 1.4 billion (approx.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:00 AIsa Raises $6.5M to Build Transaction Network for AI Agent Economy, Integrates…
01:40 Agentic Payments Go Live, Riding Stablecoins as Invisible Rails for Conversatio…
02:25 UK Places AWS, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle Under Direct Financial Sector Supe…
03:02 Circle Secures Federal Trust Charter, Legitimizing USDC as Regulated Settlement…
03:42 Central Bank of Central African States (BEAC) Joins Pan-African Payment System…
04:20 Standard Bank Authorized to Clear Yuan Payments Across 19 African Countries
04:54 Nigeria's FX Market Turnover Plummets 47% in One Week
05:27 Fintech Startup Future Forex Challenges South African Banks on FX Margins
06:00 SARB Confirms Development of Crypto Regulatory Frameworks
06:32 Nigerian Fintech Nearpays Wins UN 'AI for Good' Award for Tap-on-Phone Payment…
07:03 High Court Orders Safaricom to Pay KSh 1.4 Billion for IP Infringement on Mobil…
07:36 Wrap-up

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In this episode

• Stripe's 'Adaptive Checkout' Uses AI to Personalize Payment Options, Boosting Conversions — Stripe has launched Adaptive Checkout, an AI-powered feature that dynamically reorders payment methods for each shopper…
• AI Deepfake Scam Bypasses Fintech KYC Liveness Checks in Nigeria — The AI arms race we've been tracking in African fraud detection has escalated.
• Major Platforms Push 'Agentic Commerce' Protocols for AI-Powered Shopping — Following the early 'agentic commerce' moves from Visa and Stripe we tracked this month, the infrastructure for AI-led…
• VALR and Onafriq Partner to Link Mobile Money to Crypto Across Africa — VALR, Africa's largest crypto exchange, has partnered with Onafriq, the continent's largest digital payments network…
• Kenya's FATF Grey-Listing Triggers Service Restrictions from Fintechs — Kenya's continued presence on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list is leading to tangible consequences for…
• Uganda Detains Over 1,000 in Continent's Largest Cyber Fraud Bust — In what's being described as Uganda's largest-ever transnational cybercrime bust, authorities have detained over 1,000…
• Nigerian Fintech Gigbanc Shuts Down, Citing High Costs and Funding Drought — Nigerian fintech Gigbanc, which provided cross-border payment solutions for freelancers and businesses, is winding down…
• Kenya Finalizes Draft VASP Regulations with 30% Local Reserve Mandate — Kenya's National Treasury has released its draft Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) regulations for public comment.
• SARB Prioritizes PayShap Over Digital Rand for Real-Time Payments — Adding to the recent momentum behind PayShap—including its integration with South Africa's upgraded national QR code…
• Standard Bank's Renminbi Clearing Mandate to Streamline Africa-China Trade — Standard Bank has secured a mandate to clear renminbi (RMB) transactions, positioning it to directly facilitate the…
• AWS and NVIDIA Deepen Partnership to Accelerate AI Workloads — AWS and NVIDIA have expanded their collaboration to enhance AI deployment and performance.
• Kenyan MPs Stand By Proposal to Exempt Mobile Money Fees from 16% VAT — As Kenya's Finance Bill 2026 advances, MPs are maintaining the amendment we've been tracking to exempt mobile money…
• CBN Upgrades OPay, Moniepoint, Others to National Licenses in Nigeria — The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has upgraded the licenses of several major fintechs, including OPay, Moniepoint, Kuda…
• Tanzania Increases Digital Services Tax, Imposes New VAT Rules on Marketplaces — Effective July 1, Tanzania's Finance Act 2026 has increased the income tax rate for non-resident electronic service…

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:55 AI Deepfake Scam Bypasses Fintech KYC Liveness Checks in Nigeria
01:35 Major Platforms Push 'Agentic Commerce' Protocols for AI-Powered Shopping
02:18 VALR and Onafriq Partner to Link Mobile Money to Crypto Across Africa
02:54 Kenya's FATF Grey-Listing Triggers Service Restrictions from Fintechs
03:28 Uganda Detains Over 1,000 in Continent's Largest Cyber Fraud Bust
04:02 Nigerian Fintech Gigbanc Shuts Down, Citing High Costs and Funding Drought
04:37 Kenya Finalizes Draft VASP Regulations with 30% Local Reserve Mandate
05:09 SARB Prioritizes PayShap Over Digital Rand for Real-Time Payments
05:39 Standard Bank's Renminbi Clearing Mandate to Streamline Africa-China Trade
06:09 AWS and NVIDIA Deepen Partnership to Accelerate AI Workloads
06:40 Kenyan MPs Stand By Proposal to Exempt Mobile Money Fees from 16% VAT
07:10 CBN Upgrades OPay, Moniepoint, Others to National Licenses in Nigeria
08:09 Wrap-up

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In this episode

• South Africa's Prudential Authority Pushes to Open National Payments System to Non-Bank Entities — Fundi Tshazibana, CEO of South Africa's Prudential Authority, announced on Saturday that the central bank is actively…
• As Algorithms Shape Financial Inclusion in Nigeria, Accountability Questions Mount — In Nigeria's digital economy, algorithms are increasingly central to financial decisions, from credit scoring to fraud…
• AI-Powered Fraud Projections Worsen as Financial Firms Overhaul Defenses — As the AI-driven fraud arms race we've been tracking intensifies, financial firms are facing stark new projections.
• Moniepoint Details How Real-Time Payments Transformed Nigeria's $11B Food Service Sector — A case study released on Friday by Moniepoint Inc.
• Africa Becomes Global Hotspot for iGaming Fraud, Driven by AI-Assisted Identity Misuse — Building on the recent Sumsub data we highlighted—which pegged Africa's overall fraud rate at a global high of 2.54%—a…
• South Africa's Digital Payments Evolution: From Screen-Scraping to Direct Bank APIs — An analysis on Friday from Wesley Fetter, an OLP Product Manager at Ecentric, frames the evolution of South Africa's…
• Tanzania and Rwanda Link National Payment Systems for Real-Time Cross-Border Transfers — Rwanda and Tanzania are moving forward with a Proof of Concept (PoC) to interconnect their national instant payment…
• Accrue Launches Stablecoin-Powered B2B Banking Platform for African SMEs — Accrue, a fintech company, launched Accrue Business on Friday, a banking platform designed for African SMEs that uses…
• Morocco Caps E-Payment Fees at 0.15% for Small Businesses to Drive Digital Adoption — Morocco's central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib, has implemented a 0.15% cap on electronic payment fees for small retailers and…
• Circle Argues Mobile Money Frameworks Can Serve as Blueprint for Stablecoin Regulation in Africa — In a report highlighted on Friday, USDC-issuer Circle argues that African countries with established mobile money…
• Safaricom May Need Government Approval for Future Expansion Beyond Kenya and Ethiopia — Ahead of the July 31 Safaricom shareholder vote we've been tracking, new details clarify the proposed governance…
• UK Designates AWS as a 'Critical Third Party', Placing it Under Direct Financial Regulation — The UK government has formally designated Amazon Web Services (AWS), along with Microsoft, Google Cloud, and Oracle, as…

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:55 As Algorithms Shape Financial Inclusion in Nigeria, Accountability Questions Mo…
01:36 AI-Powered Fraud Projections Worsen as Financial Firms Overhaul Defenses
02:23 Moniepoint Details How Real-Time Payments Transformed Nigeria's $11B Food Servi…
03:02 Africa Becomes Global Hotspot for iGaming Fraud, Driven by AI-Assisted Identity…
03:45 South Africa's Digital Payments Evolution: From Screen-Scraping to Direct Bank…
04:23 Tanzania and Rwanda Link National Payment Systems for Real-Time Cross-Border Tr…
04:59 Accrue Launches Stablecoin-Powered B2B Banking Platform for African SMEs
05:35 Morocco Caps E-Payment Fees at 0.15% for Small Businesses to Drive Digital Adop…
06:08 Circle Argues Mobile Money Frameworks Can Serve as Blueprint for Stablecoin Reg…
06:43 Safaricom May Need Government Approval for Future Expansion Beyond Kenya and Et…
07:20 UK Designates AWS as a 'Critical Third Party', Placing it Under Direct Financia…
07:54 Wrap-up

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In this episode

• AI-Driven Fraud Surges in South Africa as Regulators Demand Auditable AI Defenses — As the AI-driven fraud arms race we've been tracking escalates, South Africa is emerging as a critical front.
• AI-Powered Fraud Overwhelms Nigeria's Digital Payment Systems, Experts Urge Unified Defense — Echoing the push for unified fraud defense we recently saw in Ghana, experts in Nigeria are warning that the country's…
• Central Africa's Banking Authority (BEAC) Joins PAPSS, Integrating CEMAC Region — Following Afreximbank's recent push for wider adoption, the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) has officially joined…
• South Africa Tightens Rules on Offshore IP Transfers and VAT for E-Services — South Africa is increasing scrutiny on cross-border financial flows.
• South Africa's COFI Bill Pushes to Unify Siloed Anti-Fraud Systems — With an estimated R100bn lost annually to financial crime, South Africa's pending Conduct of Financial Institutions…
• PawaPay Hits 3 Billion Transactions as Mobile Money Shifts to B2B Payments — Mobile money aggregator PawaPay announced on Friday it has processed three billion transactions, with daily volumes…
• AWS Updates Service Terms, Prohibits Crypto Mining — Amazon Web Services updated its Service Terms on Thursday, making several key changes.
• Nigeria's Forex Market Turnover Hits $46.4B in Four Months as Naira Stabilizes — Nigeria's official foreign exchange market recorded a turnover of $46.37 billion between March and June 2026, according…
• Binance Report: Africa Leads in Utility-Driven Crypto Adoption — A Binance report published Thursday states that Africa is becoming a global leader in the practical, utility-driven use…
• Safaricom Governance Vote Looms, Threatening Kenyan Government's Veto Power — Safaricom shareholders are set to vote on July 31 on significant governance reforms following Vodacom's acquisition of…
• Flutterwave and PayPal's Xoom Partner to Speed Up Remittances to Nigeria — Flutterwave has partnered with PayPal's cross-border transfer service, Xoom, to accelerate remittances into Nigeria.
• Zimbabwe Formalizes Crypto Regulation with New VASP Framework — Zimbabwe has officially moved to regulate virtual asset service providers (VASPs) with the publication of Statutory…

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:58 AI-Powered Fraud Overwhelms Nigeria's Digital Payment Systems, Experts Urge Uni…
01:43 Central Africa's Banking Authority (BEAC) Joins PAPSS, Integrating CEMAC Region
02:18 South Africa Tightens Rules on Offshore IP Transfers and VAT for E-Services
02:58 South Africa's COFI Bill Pushes to Unify Siloed Anti-Fraud Systems
03:39 PawaPay Hits 3 Billion Transactions as Mobile Money Shifts to B2B Payments
04:14 AWS Updates Service Terms, Prohibits Crypto Mining
04:51 Nigeria's Forex Market Turnover Hits $46.4B in Four Months as Naira Stabilizes
05:24 Binance Report: Africa Leads in Utility-Driven Crypto Adoption
05:59 Safaricom Governance Vote Looms, Threatening Kenyan Government's Veto Power
06:32 Flutterwave and PayPal's Xoom Partner to Speed Up Remittances to Nigeria
07:34 Wrap-up

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In this episode

• Revolut's 'PRAGMA' AI Model Boosts Fraud Detection by 64.7%, Automates Support — Revolut announced on Thursday that its proprietary AI foundation model, PRAGMA, has improved fraud detection by 64.7%…
• AI-Powered Automation for Card Disputes Goes Mainstream with New Partnership — Card issuer platform Episode Six and AI-powered dispute automation provider Decisionly announced a partnership on…
• Nigeria's Central Bank Tightens Payment Rail Regulations with ISO 20022 Mandate and Real-Time AML — Despite the Nigerian Federal Government's recent suspension of new digital regulations to draft a unified policy, the…
• South Africa Upgrades QR Code Standard for Full Interoperability, Integrates with PayShap — The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has upgraded its QR+ standard to version 1.2, enabling a single, standardized QR…
• New Onchain FX Platform 'HyperFX' Launches for Instant Naira Settlement Using Regulated cNGN Stablecoin — Polytope Labs on Wednesday launched HyperFX, an onchain foreign exchange engine that enables instant currency swaps…
• Fraud in Ghana Shifts to Digital Channels, with PSPs Accounting for 97% of Cases — Putting hard numbers to the Bank of Ghana's recent call for a unified fraud prevention system, a new report discussed…
• Nigerian Crypto Processor Moves to Pay-As-You-Go Model to Boost Merchant Adoption — ForgeLayer, a Nigerian blockchain payment infrastructure provider, has switched from a fixed monthly subscription to a…
• Graph Databases Emerge as a Tool to Detect Organized Fraud Rings — A new system called 'Kavach,' detailed on Wednesday, uses a graph database (Neo4j) to model relationships between…
• Kenyan MPs Scrap Proposed 16% VAT on Mobile Money Transfer Fees — Kenyan Members of Parliament have proposed amendments to the Finance Bill, 2026, to exempt mobile money transfer fees…
• SARB Proposes 'Cash Smart Strategy' to Overhaul South Africa's $5.5B Annual Cash Costs — The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is proposing a major overhaul of the country's cash system through its 'Cash…
• Nigeria Proposes Stricter Ring-Fencing Rules for Financial Groups — Following up on the CBN's proposed 20% capital buffer for Financial HoldCos we tracked earlier this week, a new…
• Cloud Provider AFRICLOUD Enables Mobile Money Payments for Hosting in 11 Countries — AFRICLOUD, a cloud infrastructure provider, announced on Thursday that it now accepts mobile money for cloud hosting…

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:19 AI-Powered Automation for Card Disputes Goes Mainstream with New Partnership
02:04 Nigeria's Central Bank Tightens Payment Rail Regulations with ISO 20022 Mandate…
02:48 South Africa Upgrades QR Code Standard for Full Interoperability, Integrates wi…
03:29 New Onchain FX Platform 'HyperFX' Launches for Instant Naira Settlement Using R…
04:11 Fraud in Ghana Shifts to Digital Channels, with PSPs Accounting for 97% of Cases
04:56 Nigerian Crypto Processor Moves to Pay-As-You-Go Model to Boost Merchant Adopti…
05:37 Graph Databases Emerge as a Tool to Detect Organized Fraud Rings
06:17 Kenyan MPs Scrap Proposed 16% VAT on Mobile Money Transfer Fees
06:54 SARB Proposes 'Cash Smart Strategy' to Overhaul South Africa's $5.5B Annual Cas…
07:32 Nigeria Proposes Stricter Ring-Fencing Rules for Financial Groups
08:08 Cloud Provider AFRICLOUD Enables Mobile Money Payments for Hosting in 11 Countr…
08:46 Wrap-up

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In this episode

• SARB to Increase Regulation of Cross-Border Payment Facilitators in South Africa — The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) announced on Tuesday its intention to increase regulation of cross-border payment…
• Flutterwave Adds USDC Settlement with Strategic Investment from Circle — Hot on the heels of integrating Ripple's RLUSD, Flutterwave has secured a strategic investment from Circle Ventures to…
• PCI DSS v4.0.1 Mandates Stricter Control Over Checkout Scripts to Combat Web Skimming — The new PCI DSS v4.0.1 standard introduces stringent requirements to combat 'Magecart' style web-skimming attacks.
• Guide to High-Converting Cross-Border Payments Emphasizes Local Methods and Nuanced Fraud Rules — An operational guide published Tuesday outlines best practices for optimizing cross-border payment stacks in 2026.
• Kenya Enacts New Central Bank Law, Strengthening Financial Oversight and Crisis Management — On Tuesday, Kenyan President William Ruto signed the Central Bank of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2026 into law.
• Mastercard's 'Merchant Trust Services' to Require Proactive Scam Monitoring — Effective July 24, Mastercard will launch its 'Merchant Trust Services' initiative, shifting its fraud-monitoring focus…
• Direct ZAR-RMB Clearing via Standard Bank to Reduce Costs for SA-China Trade — Following a June 26 announcement, Standard Bank is now authorized by the People's Bank of China to clear Renminbi (RMB)…
• BanffPay Launches Liberia's First Unified Payment API, Secures PSP License — BanffPay announced on Tuesday it has secured a Payment Service Provider (PSP) license from the Central Bank of Liberia…
• GTCO's HabariPay Targets Nigerian SME Market with 200,000 PoS Terminals — In a significant competitive move detailed Tuesday, GTCO's fintech arm, HabariPay, plans to deploy 200,000…
• Equity Group, AfricaNenda, and Gates Foundation Partner to Drive Digital Public Infrastructure — Equity Group, the AfricaNenda Foundation, and the Gates Foundation announced a partnership on Tuesday to accelerate the…
• Nigerian Government Suspends New Digital Regulations to Develop Unified Policy — Following the barrage of Nigerian directives we've been tracking—from the CBN's looming data localization mandate to…
• ECB Mandates Banks Submit Plans to Counter AI-Driven Cyberattacks by October 31 — The European Central Bank (ECB) has directed all supervised banks to submit formal plans by October 31 detailing how…

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In this episode

• UK Regulator's 'Mills Review' Frames Future of AI in Finance, Identifies Programmable Money as Key Infrastructure — The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Monday released 'The Mills Review,' a landmark report concluding that AI…
• Visa and Stripe Launch Tools for AI-Driven 'Agentic Commerce' — Building on the autonomous payment protocols we tracked Stripe testing with Cross River Bank, major networks are moving…
• South Africa Proposes Sweeping Capital Controls for Cryptocurrency — South Africa's National Treasury released a draft bill to integrate cryptocurrencies into its capital flow management…
• Ripple Takes Equity Stake in Flutterwave to Drive Stablecoin Payments in Africa — Ripple has acquired an equity stake in African fintech giant Flutterwave to integrate its RLUSD stablecoin and Ripple…
• Kenya's Finance Act 2026 Expands 'Royalty' Definition to Tax Software and Card Network Fees — Adding to the recent digital payment tax pressures we've been tracking in Kenya, the Finance Act 2026 has broadened the…
• Nigerian Data Localization Mandate Spurs Local Infrastructure Offerings — Infrastructure providers are racing to capture the market created by the CBN's January 2027 payment data localization…
• Nigeria SEC Expands Crypto Sandbox, Prioritizes Asset Tokenization and Custody — Following up on the SEC's recent ARIP sandbox admissions—now cited as nine firms, including Luno, rather than the…
• Ghanaian Fintech Zeepay Faces Legal and Regulatory Crises — Ghanaian remittance and mobile money firm Zeepay is facing significant legal and regulatory challenges.
• BNPL Providers Defend Model Against SARB Scrutiny in South Africa — South African 'Buy Now, Pay Later' (BNPL) providers including Payflex and PayJustNow are actively defending their…
• Uganda Moves Forward with $5.5B Tokenized CBDC Project in Special Economic Zone — Miami-based Global Settlement Network (GSN) has acquired Uganda's AKIBA International to launch a $5.5 billion project…
• Bank of Ghana Calls for Unified, Industry-Wide Fraud Prevention System — The Bank of Ghana's Head of Fintech and Innovation, Elhanan Owureku Asare, is advocating for a unified fraud prevention…
• Ethiopia and Kenya Formalize Small-Scale Cross-Border Trade — Ethiopia's Customs Commission has introduced a directive to formalize small-scale cross-border trade with Kenya.

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In this episode

• South Africa's SARS Proposes Sweeping Crypto Tax Rules, Forms Audit Unit — On Wednesday, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) published comprehensive draft guidance for the taxation of…
• Nigerian Central Bank Proposes Stricter HoldCo Rules, Impacting Fintech Subsidiaries — On Sunday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released exposure drafts for revised guidelines on Financial Holding…
• Nigeria's NIMC Act Transforms Digital ID into Economic Infrastructure — President Tinubu on Sunday signed the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Act 2026, a landmark law that…
• Afreximbank President Pushes for PAPSS Expansion, Reveals 'PAPSS Card' — Afreximbank is escalating the push for its Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) we've been tracking, with…
• Data Breach at Nigeria's Providus Bank Leads to Wave of Unauthorized Card Fraud — Customers of Nigeria's Providus Bank are reporting a surge in unauthorized card transactions, which appear to be linked…
• Apple Pay Expands Merchant Tokens for Stored Credential Billing — Apple has quietly expanded its Apple Pay Merchant Token specification, enabling ecommerce merchants to store tokenized…
• MoonPay Acquires AI Accounting Firm Entendre to Automate Stablecoin Finances — Crypto payments firm MoonPay has acquired Entendre, a maker of AI-powered accounting tools, to automate the financial…
• Kenya Proposes Strict 30% Local Reserve Requirement for Stablecoin Issuers — The clash we noted over Kenya's proposed stablecoin reserve rules is coming into sharper focus.
• Shopify Rolls Out Native B2B Checkout for Plus Merchants — On June 24, Shopify made its B2B Native Checkout available to all Shopify Plus merchants, integrating wholesale…
• Ecobank Nigeria Adds New Fees for Foreign Currency Transfers — Effective July 1, Ecobank Nigeria has implemented new charges for foreign currency transfers within the bank.
• SARB Considers Scrapping Prime Rate, Renaming Repo Rate — The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is considering a major overhaul of its interest rate framework, which could…
• AWS Undergoes Strategic Workforce Shifts to Focus on AI Growth — Amazon Web Services (AWS) is making strategic workforce adjustments, including some layoffs, as it doubles down on…

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In this episode

• Stripe Builds Payment Infrastructure for AI Agents to Autonomously Spend Real Money — In a collaboration announced Thursday, Cross River Bank and Stripe are providing bank-grade card issuance…
• Stripe's 2026 Product Suite Review: Deeper AI in Fraud, Link Network Growth, and Persistent Cross-Border Challenges — A Saturday review of Stripe's 2026 product suite highlights significant advancements in AI, particularly with Stripe…
• Chargeback Software Market Hits $2.6B as AI Agents Create New Liability Concerns — Building on the escalating chargeback volumes and friendly fraud trends we've been tracking, the market for chargeback…
• Fitch Upgrades South Africa's Credit Rating for First Time in 21 Years — On Sunday, Fitch Ratings upgraded South Africa's long-term credit rating, the first such move in 21 years.
• Micro-Transaction Probing Emerges as Precursor to High-Value Fraud — Cybercriminals are increasingly using 'micro-transaction reconnaissance'—making tiny, often sub-dollar payments—to test…
• Nigeria Unveils 'Payment System Vision 2028' to Become Africa's Payment Hub — Following its strict 2027 data localization mandate, Nigeria's Central Bank (CBN) has launched its 'Payment System…
• Surge in Sophisticated ATM Attacks Targets African Banks' Authorization Infrastructure — Nigeria’s Computer Emergency Response Team (ngCERT) issued a high-risk advisory on Saturday concerning a surge in…
• Google Deepens Africa Investment with AI Lab and Digital Exchange Port — At its Google Cloud Africa Summit 2026 on Sunday, Google announced an expanded strategy for the continent, building on…
• South African Rand Strengthens as Citi Forecasts Favorable Policy Response — The South African Rand has strengthened in recent weeks, with the USD/ZAR exchange rate nearing 16.23.
• Digital Wallets See 'Explosive' 155% Growth in South Africa — South Africa is witnessing a surge in digital wallet usage, with transaction value growing nearly 155% between early…
• Nigerian Fintechs Embrace Banking Licenses, Shifting from Payments to Balance Sheet Models — Major Nigerian payment companies like Moniepoint, Paystack, and Flutterwave are increasingly acquiring banking…
• Ethiopia's EthSwitch Deploys AI for Credit Scoring and a New Merchant Portal — EthSwitch, Ethiopia's national payment switch, is launching a merchant portal and an AI-driven credit scoring system to…

Read the full briefing with sources →

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In this episode

• Nigeria Mandates Data Localization by January 2027 — Following the Central Bank of Nigeria's mandate requiring all payment data to be stored domestically by January 1…
• Nigeria SEC Expands Crypto Sandbox, Admitting Luno and Six Others — Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has granted Approval-in-Principle to seven new fintech and digital…
• AI Powers a New Generation of Sophisticated Fraud — Fraudsters are increasingly leveraging AI to execute sophisticated scams, including deepfake voice instructions and…
• Launch Africa Ventures Exits Peach Payments in Secondary Sale to 27four — Pan-African VC firm Launch Africa Ventures has sold its stake in South African payment processor Peach Payments to the…
• Afreximbank Intensifies Push for PAPSS Adoption — Afreximbank and the AfCFTA Secretariat are increasing their advocacy for the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System…
• South Africa's FSCA Publishes Three-Year Regulation Plan — South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) released its three-year regulation plan for 2026-2029 on…
• SARB Prioritizes Payment Rails Modernization Over Retail CBDC — The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is officially prioritizing the modernization of its existing digital payments…
• Report: Merchants Massively Underestimate Friendly Fraud's Share of Chargebacks — Digging deeper into the 2026 Chargeback Field Report from Chargebacks911 we recently covered, the data reveals a severe…
• China Expands Yuan Clearing to 19 African Countries via Standard Bank — China has approved South Africa's Standard Bank and its parent ICBC to clear Renminbi (Yuan) transactions across 19…
• M-PESA Masks Phone Numbers in Transactions to Enhance Privacy — Safaricom's M-PESA is rolling out a new privacy feature that masks users' full phone numbers in 'Send Money'…
• East African Community Approves Framework for Cross-Border Data Flows — Experts from East African Community (EAC) partner states have approved a harmonized framework for trusted cross-border…
• Core Banking Modernization Drives Shift to Cloud and APIs — Financial institutions globally are accelerating core banking modernization, moving from legacy batch-processing…

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In this episode

• Nigeria's Banking Crackdown Catches Fintechs Using Microfinance Licenses for Growth — The Central Bank of Nigeria revoked 46 microfinance bank (MFB) licences on Wednesday, impacting several fintechs…
• SARS' New Mandatory Online Traveller Declaration System Faces Launch-Day Glitches — Effective Wednesday, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) made it mandatory for all travellers to complete an…
• Kenya Imposes 16% VAT on Digital Payment Processing Fees — Effective Wednesday, Kenya's Finance Act 2026 has imposed a 16% VAT on digital payment processing fees for over 40…
• Visa, M-Pesa, and Onafriq Pilot Stablecoin Settlements in DRC — Visa, M-Pesa, and pan-African payments company Onafriq have launched a pilot in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)…
• Visa Rolls Out AI Tools to Automate Credit Card Dispute Resolution — Visa has introduced six new AI-powered tools aimed at making the credit card charge dispute process more efficient and…
• CBN Mandates Data Localization and Stricter Governance in H1 2026 Directives — A review of the Central Bank of Nigeria's directives in the first half of 2026 reveals a major push for tighter control…
• Kenyan Treasury and Crypto Firms Clash Over Stablecoin Reserve Rules — Virtual asset providers in Kenya are challenging a proposed National Treasury regulation that would require 30% of…
• Vodacom Finalizes Acquisition, Takes Majority Control of Safaricom — Vodacom Group has completed its acquisition of an additional 20% effective stake in Safaricom, raising its total…
• Report: Friendly Fraud Drives Up Merchant Costs and Consumer Prices — According to the 2026 Chargeback Field Report from Chargebacks911, 83% of enterprise merchants have seen a rise in…
• Nairobi-Based Daya Raises $2.4M Pre-Seed for Stablecoin Payment Infrastructure — Nairobi-based startup Daya has raised a $2.4 million pre-seed round led by Hivemind Capital to build infrastructure for…
• South Africa's Constitutional Court Allows Forex-Rigging Case Against Six Global Banks to Proceed — South Africa's Constitutional Court ruled this week that the Competition Commission can move forward with its…
• AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol Pushed for Faster Ratification — Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, is calling for accelerated ratification of the AfCFTA…

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