ITWEB MAY 212013 Vodacom SArsquos largest cellular company is set to try again with its mobile money service MPesa after the offering failed to gain traction in the local market The mobile currency has been popular in other markets such as Tanzania where Vodacom first kicked off with it and currently accounts for 6 of the grouprsquos overall revenue However in SA it only has a few hundredthousand users and has been held back by legislation and the integration needed to move money from a bank account to an electronic wallet CEO Shameel Joosub expects MPesa to account for about 15 of Vodacomrsquos revenue as a group in the next three ye...[...read more]

May 202013 BIZTECHAFRICA Mobile Money the lowcost banking solution introduced by MTN in partnership with The South African Bank of Athens has shown a double digit month on month growth as cell phone users embrace the speed and convenience of accessing a wide range of financial services directly from their mobile phones Mobile Money takes convergence to the next level offering a conduit to services such as drawing money buying prepaid electricity and even recharging airtime Serame Taukobong Chief Marketing Officer at MTN South Africa says that research points to the technology having had a dramatic effect on peoplesrsquo lives Mobile Mo...[...read more]

May 152013 ITWEB Ecommerce businesses must have thesecuritybasics right before accepting credit cards to transact online So says Peter Harvey MD of paymentservicesprovider PayGate who adds that allowing card purchases makes online sales much easier but businesses are responsible for any credit or debit card information they store transmit or process ldquoIf cardholderdatais stolen and you are responsible you could face fines penalties and even lose the right to accept payment cardsrdquo he says Hiring reputable professionals for Web development is an important first step in ensuring businesses and customers are protected says Harve...[...read more]

May 132013 The Standard MOBILE money is making huge waves in Zimbabwe providing an opportunity for the countryrsquos largely unbanked population to engage in simple yet fast and efficient financial transactions The volatile economic environment which has prevailed in Zimbabwe over the past decade largely contributed to the failure of telecoms and banking institutions to adopt mobile banking But over the past year there has been a foray by telecommunication and banking institutions to establish mobile banking platforms Examples of mobile banking products that have been launched include Kingdom Bankrsquos Cellcard Tetradrsquos eMali Ec...[...read more]

April 292013 The Sun MobiPay has sealed an agreement with the northern electricity distributor Nored to supply electricity in bulk to third party vendors The deal which has been on the negotiation table for nearly two years was on Tuesday made official during a vending relationship launch ceremony at Noredrsquos headquarters at Ondangwa MobiPay Director Amos Shiyuka said the deal means that new technology has been brought to the region and Nored customers can now purchase electricity from the comfort of their homes ldquoAfter the introduction of MobiPay in the Nored electricity operated regions and other regions of our vast country we ar...[...read more]

Humanipo April 292013 The ldquogorillasrdquo of Mastercard and Visa will in the future no longer be needed because of the direction of banking and payment solutions in the cloud according to a technology chief at South Africarsquos Standard Bank Ngoni Simelane head of technology and innovation presented a new payment solution currently under construction at the bank to the Cloud World Forum Africa conference in Johannesburg yesterday Simelane made reference to digital currencies such as Bitcoin as an indicator of the way money is moving and said Visa and Mastercard were taking the threat seriously Regarding cloud payments S...[...read more]

April 242013 The Standard ECONET the countryrsquos largest telecommunications company is set to become a key player in the financial services sector riding on its mobile money transfer business according to new research findings In 2011 Econet launched EcoCash to ride on its infrastructure network EcoCash is modelled along Safaricomrsquos MPesa that has become an instant hit in Kenya In a latest report one of the countryrsquos leading brokerage firms IHSecurities said EcoCash would leverage on the limited access to financial services ldquoAccess to financial services is even more limited in Zimbabwe than it was in Kenya at MPesars...[...read more]

April 182013 BusinessDay Live FIRST National Bank FNB on Monday launched a tabletspecific banking application that will allow people open FNB bank accounts via their devices mdash a first in South African retail banking The move fits into FNBrsquos strategy to acquire more customers through switching from other banks ldquoWe looked at whatrsquos happening in the world and we saw that tablets are fast growingrdquo said Farren Roper head of FNB Connect ISP and business operations ldquoOur current app is customised for smartphones but we see the tablet platform as a growing onerdquo Mr Roper said FNB had 450000 clients using its smartph...[...read more]