Payment service provision in Africa: a promising but challenging market

Mastercard has signed a deal with China’s Alipay to facilitate international remittances into the market.

Remittance deals continue to hog the fintech headlines in Africa. MTN MoMo, Mastercard and Equity Bank Kenya are the latest companies to make announcements about plans to serve the vast African remittance market.

Smart Communications, the mobile arm of Philippine telco PLDT, is reportedly making moves to relaunch its original mobile money app, Smart Money, in an apparent bid to directly take on rival telco Globe Telecom’s GCash.