Safaricom PLC held its Annual General Meeting virtually, where shareholders approved a final dividend of Ksh 0.65 per share, totaling Ksh 26.04 billion for the financial year ending March 31, 2024. Combined with an interim dividend of Ksh 0.55 per share paid in March 2024, the total dividend payout for the year amounts to Ksh1.20 per share, or Ksh 48.08 billion.

Peter Ndegwa C.B.S, Safaricom PLC Group CEO, highlighted the company's resilience and growth, noting,

The dividend will be payable on or about August 31, 2024, to shareholders on the Register of Members as of July 31, 2024.

Adil Khawaja MBS, MGH commended the company's strong financial results despite economic challenges in Kenya and Ethiopia, including high interest rates, inflation, and currency fluctuations:

Safaricom anticipates breaking even in Ethiopia by the end of its fourth year of operations. The company is focused on its vision to become Africa’s leading technology company by 2030, driven by strategic investments and robust execution.

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🗞️ In a Nutshell...

• 🏦 Mercury to Close Accounts for Startup... And Fincra Capitalizes

Mercury is shutting down accounts for a startup, and Fincra is stepping in to seize the opportunity.

• 🎟️ Ticketmaster Acquires South African Ticketing Platform Quicket

Ticketmaster has bought Quicket, a top ticketing platform in South Africa

• 🤝 Monzo Bank and Google Cloud Partnership Still Strong

This duo continues to innovate in the banking tech space.

• ⚡ Chery to Pump $20 Million into Kenya's EV Industry

Chinese automaker Chery is investing $20 million in Kenya's electric vehicle industry

• 🖥️ Who is Kenya's New Nominated CS for Digital Economy?

• 📚 Old Mutual and KICD's Online Financial Literacy Program for Teachers

Old Mutual and KICD have launched an online financial literacy program for teachers. Smart money moves are coming to classrooms!

• 🍏 What Apple Says About Its Responsible AI Training

• 🔏 Visa's AI Investments Block $40 Billion in Fraudulent Transactions...

And much more...

The Old Mutual Investment Group and the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) launched an online financial literacy program aimed at junior and senior school teachers. This initiative responds to the need for integrating financial literacy education into existing curricula, as the current Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) incorporates financial literacy across various learning areas from pre-primary to senior school levels.

The program is now available to all junior school teachers, with plans to onboard senior secondary school teachers in 2026, accessible via the Elimika platform, which offers various capacity-building courses.

Prof. Charles Ong’ondo, CEO of KICD, praised Old Mutual for its commitment to transforming society through education.

Old Mutual's Chief Executive Officer, Arthur Oginga, reiterated that financial literacy is essential for equipping learners with the knowledge needed for future success.

The program was developed following a successful pilot involving 120 junior secondary school teachers from five counties, which helped identify learning gaps and informed the integration of financial literacy into other subjects.

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Digital bank Mercury , based in San Francisco, announced it will close accounts for users in thirteen African countries by August 22, 2024. This decision follows changes in the bank's account eligibility criteria and affects a total of 37 countries globally, leaving many startups seeking alternative banking solutions.

Affected countries include Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Cameroon, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Somalia, Zimbabwe, and the Republic of Congo. Mercury's email communication indicated that businesses with addresses in these regions can no longer be supported, particularly impacting startups incorporated in Delaware without U.S.-based founders.

The closure is partly attributed to the countries' status on the Financial Action Task Force Greylist, which subjects them to increased scrutiny due to concerns over money laundering and terrorism financing. A 2023 KPMG report highlighted that this greylisting complicates the operations of businesses in these regions, as they are perceived as higher risk.

Mercury's tightening of compliance measures follows regulatory pressures that have intensified in the fintech sector. The bank's previous experiences, including account restrictions due to "unusual activity" and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, have prompted a reassessment of its risk exposure. The recent decision reflects a broader trend among financial institutions to limit services in high-risk jurisdictions.

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And Fintechs Don't Waste Time🏃‍♂️

Mercury's account closures, effective August 22, 2024, stem from regulatory scrutiny by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation regarding its exposure to higher-risk countries. This move has left many African startups seeking new banking solutions.

Fincra's CEO, Wole Ayodele , emphasizes the need for local alternatives, stating that many Western financial institutions often weigh the risks of banking Africans against potential revenue, leading to account closures.

To address this challenge, Fincra is developing a robust infrastructure to offer a "Mercury-like" service for African businesses. Their solutions include a Multicurrency Account API, enabling transactions in USD and EUR, as well as card payment enablers and a Conversion API for real-time currency exchanges.

Other companies like Raenest , Leatherback , and Vesti are stepping in to provide banking services in the U.S. and Canada, offering attractive features such as same-day onboarding and free USD cards.

Ibitade Ibrahim, CEO of Leatherback, noted a surge in interest from startups, stating that his LinkedIn has been flooded with inquiries since the announcement. Leatherback claims to have established strong partnerships with U.S. banks, ensuring reliable access to banking services.

While some startups have opted for alternatives like Brex due to concerns about reliability, fintechs like Leatherback and Vesti emphasize their direct partnerships with U.S. banks, which they believe mitigates the unpredictability seen with Mercury.

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Kenya's largest telecommunications company has announced the departure of two key members from its Board of Directors: Ory Okolloh and Francesco Bianco. The exits, confirmed after a comprehensive board meeting on July 24, 2024, mark a notable transition for the company.

According to the statement made by Lisa Wambani, the acting company secretary for Safaricom, Ory Okolloh's tenure concluded on July 24, 2024, while Francesco Bianco is set to leave on August 1, 2024. The decisions were reached following a thorough review and deliberation during the board meeting.Safaricom expressed its deep gratitude to both Ory Okolloh and Francesco Bianco for their invaluable contributions. The telecommunications giant highlighted the robust input and strategic insights provided by the departing members, which have been instrumental in shaping the company's direction and policies.

Ory Okolloh joined Safaricom's board in February 2023 as an independent director, bringing a wealth of experience in technology, governance, and investment. Francesco Bianco has been an integral part of Safaricom's board for the past four years, having been appointed as an alternate director to Michael Joseph in January 2019.

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Airtel Africa has reported a profit of $31 million in Q1 2024, recovering from a $151 million loss in the same period last year, despite facing ongoing macroeconomic challenges. Revenue fell 16.1% to $1.15 billion due to currency devaluation and rising fuel costs in Nigeria. The company saw growth in mobile money customers, which increased by 14.9% to 39.5 million, and data customers grew 13.4% to 64.4 million.

The strong performance in data and mobile money services contributed to the improved bottom line, although Airtel's share price dropped 10% in pre-market trading ahead of its earnings call. New CEO Sunil Taldar emphasized the importance of exploring new business opportunities, particularly in enterprise, fiber, and data center sectors.

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Village Capital has invested in two African agritech startups, AquaRech LTD from Kenya and CoAmana from Nigeria, providing them with $350,000 and $500,000 respectively through its Reducing Inequalities Investment Facility, supported by FMO Investment Management’s MASSIF Fund. Aquarech offers a buy now pay later solution for fish feed and provides training for fish farmers, while Coamana, launched in 2018, digitizes farmer management processes through its marketplace, allowing farmers to sell products, access loans, and receive real-time market information.

The investments aim to enhance agricultural trade markets across Africa, improving price transparency and access to finance for farmers. Village Capital's support reflects a growing trend of tech-driven agricultural startups that are bridging gaps in the agricultural sector. The funding will help both startups expand their operations and improve services for farmers, contributing to the overall development of the agricultural landscape in the region.

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Equity Bank Limited entered into a historic framework agreement with the World Food Programme to connect value chain actors in food and agriculture with financial literacy training and concessional financing through Equity Bank subsidiaries. The agreement was signed by Dr. James Mwangi, Equity Group Holdings MD and CEO, and WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain during the WFP Executive Board Session in Rome.

This partnership aims to support marginalized communities where traditional financing is scarce, providing training and technical assistance to help agri-processors and agri-preneurs access financing. It builds on a previous collaboration between WFP and Equity BCDC in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which has facilitated US$10 million in loans to local value chain businesses since 2022.

Dr. Mwangi emphasized the private sector's critical role in transitioning food crises towards resilient food systems, noting that small-scale farmers are essential to global food supply. He highlighted Equity's commitment to supporting farmers through access to finance and investments in agricultural activities.

Cindy McCain remarked on the partnership's potential to address the root causes of hunger by empowering farmers with the necessary tools and resources. The agreement also focuses on educating farmers about climate resilience and financial management, alongside providing infrastructure support to reduce food waste and improve market access.

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Pesa, founded by Tolulope Osho, Yusuf Yakubu, and Wale Afolabi, is a Nigerian remittance fintech startup that aims to provide a secure and cost-effective solution for cross-border money transfers. The trio, who settled in Canada in 2017, experienced firsthand the challenges and high costs associated with traditional remittance services, which often led people to resort to informal and unsafe channels.

Initially targeting the Canada-to-Africa remittance market, Pesa has now expanded its focus to global activity. The startup is currently working on acquiring licenses for rollout in the United States and is already operational in 27 European Union countries. In the UK, Pesa operates through a partnership while working to obtain an Electronic Money Institution license, which will grant it full functionality as a bank and allow it to offer cheaper services and issue e-money on behalf of customers.

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Kenyan-based iXAfrica Data Centres data centers and Schneider Electric have partnered to launch NBOX1, a hyper-scale data center aimed at transforming Kenya's digital landscape by providing stable, reliable, and sustainable cloud services. This Tier 3+ carrier-neutral facility is designed to support advanced AI applications and is touted as the largest and most technologically advanced digital habitat for cloud, colocation, and connectivity in East Africa.

The data center's infrastructure relies on Schneider Electric's medium and low-voltage switchgear, ensuring renewable energy-powered cloud services through Kenya’s grid. Schneider Electric's solutions are engineered to support N+1 redundancy with four independent power trains, achieving a 1.25 Power Usage Effectiveness and a 99.999% uptime guarantee.

IXAfrica's CEO, Snehar Shah, highlighted Kenya's readiness for hyper-cloud services due to its advanced cloud adoption, digitally savvy ecosystem, and reliable low-carbon power sources. He noted the country's stable regulatory environment and a strong economic growth forecast of 5.2% in 2024.

IXAfrica is expanding its presence in the Kenyan infrastructure market, with a $50 million investment in its Nairobi Campus One and a recent acquisition of 11 acres of land for a second data center campus in Nairobi. The African data center sector is booming, with Kenya expected to see its market value grow from $227 million in 2023 to $440 million by 2029, at a CAGR of 11.66%.

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OpenAI unveiled SearchGPT, a new prototype search engine designed to provide users with fast, relevant answers backed by clear sources. The tool is currently being tested with a small group of users, with plans to eventually integrate it into OpenAI's popular ChatGPT chatbot.The launch of SearchGPT has raised concerns among investors about the potential impact on industry leader Google Search. Alphabet, Google's parent company, has seen its stock price drop over 3% since the announcement, as analysts speculate that OpenAI's new offering could disrupt the online search market.

SearchGPT aims to offer a more natural, conversational search experience, allowing users to ask follow-up questions and engage in a dialogue. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman believes there is significant room for improvement in current search technologies.

The prototype comes on the heels of OpenAI's introduction of GPT-4o mini, a faster and more powerful version of its GPT-4 language model. With backing from Microsoft, OpenAI has a valuation of nearly $80 billion as it seeks to maintain its lead in generative AI while exploring revenue opportunities.

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The International Finance Corporation has announced a $140 million trade finance guarantee facility with seven Ecobank Transnational Incorporated subsidiaries operating in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, and Togo. This partnership aims to strengthen the participating affiliates' trade finance operations and assist in developing new trade partnerships for businesses in these countries, ultimately reducing Africa's reliance on imports and contributing to economic development.

The trade finance facility is part of IFC's $1 billion African Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program, which supports Africa's regional trade development. IFC's renewed partnership with Ecobank Group will facilitate access to finance for businesses in Africa, support economic growth, and boost job creation.

Alain Francis Nkontchou , Chairman of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, emphasized that the partnership with IFC supports Ecobank's goal of boosting trade within Africa and helping small and medium-sized businesses engage confidently in cross-border trade by removing financial barriers and leveraging Ecobank's borderless payment platform and solutions.

Sergio Pimenta , IFC's Vice President for Africa, stated that partnering with the Ecobank Group will enable IFC to support small businesses, many operating in environments where securing trade finance can be challenging. IFC will also provide advisory services to Ecobank and its subsidiaries, focusing on helping the banks boost their support for SMEs and increase access to finance for businesses owned or run by women.

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South Africa is emerging as a leader in cryptocurrency payments, transforming its financial landscape. Recent data from FiveWest indicates a 26.5% increase in crypto transaction volumes over the past six months, highlighting the country's readiness for innovative financial solutions.

Binance Pay has played a crucial role in this trend, facilitating secure cryptocurrency transactions for everyday purchases. Its partnership with FiveWest has streamlined the integration of traditional banking with fintech, enhancing payment options through the CoinPay gateway.

Hannes Wessels, country manager for Binance South Africa, noted the growing recognition of cryptocurrencies' potential in the region. The typical crypto user in South Africa is young, tech-savvy, and predominantly male, aged 18 to 34, with many engaging in online shopping and in-store purchases.

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SPOT MOBILE is a newly launched mobile virtual network operator - MVNO in South Africa, established by the founders of fintech firm Spot Money—Sean and Don Bergsma and Andre Hugo. Launched in January 2024, Spot Mobile aims to serve underserviced communities by leveraging the Cell C mobile network, which has transitioned into a full MVNO model after decommissioning its physical radio access network.

The MVNO landscape in South Africa has been expanding, with numerous new entrants over the past few years. Spot Mobile joins a growing list of MVNOs that utilize Cell C's infrastructure, which has become a key player in the MVNO market, hosting several other brands like FNB Connect and Melon Mobile. The entry of Spot Mobile reflects a broader trend of increasing competition in the telecommunications sector, particularly among operators targeting niche markets and underserved demographics.

The founders of Spot Money previously launched their fintech platform in 2021, following the acquisition of Virgin Money South Africa. This experience positions them well to innovate in the mobile space, aiming to provide affordable and accessible mobile services to communities that have historically faced challenges in obtaining reliable telecommunications options.

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Ticketmaster has acquired South African ticketing platform Quicket to strengthen its presence in Africa's growing live events market. Founded in 2011, Quicket provides a self-service ticketing solution that has gained traction across several African countries, including Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, and Botswana. The acquisition will enable Ticketmaster to integrate Quicket's regional expertise with its global resources, offering enhanced ticketing solutions for events of all sizes.

Under the leadership of Managing Director James Tagg, Quicket will continue to operate as a standalone business unit based in Cape Town. The partnership aims to facilitate the adoption of digital ticketing technologies, such as secure mobile tickets, across the continent, thereby improving the overall experience for event organizers and attendees alike.

Ticketmaster, which processes over 550 million tickets annually, views this acquisition as a strategic move to connect African artists with a broader audience. The company emphasizes its commitment to delivering top-tier tools for promoters and venues, enhancing the live entertainment experience in Africa.

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Italy's Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and the African Development Bank Group will jointly invest up to €400 million (about $432 million) over five years to boost Africa's private sector growth through the newly established Growth and Resilience Platform for Africa . Each institution will contribute €200 million (about $216 million), which will be channeled into Africa's economy through private equity and venture capital funds focused on food security, SME growth, and sustainable infrastructure.

The collaborative investments aim to accelerate the implementation of new African private sector initiatives, create a single access point for investment opportunities, and mobilize an additional €350 million (approx. $378 million) from other sources, bringing the total pool of investment capital to €750 million (approx $811 million). This partnership is part of Italy's Mattei Plan for Africa, a strategic initiative unveiled in 2022 to forge a new era of mutual partnership and sustainable development.

The African Development Bank Group has the largest dedicated private equity and venture capital fund-of-Funds in Africa, with over US$1.36 billion committed to 74 private equity and venture capital funds. The partnership is expected to significantly contribute to job creation and improvements in the delivery of essential products and services across the continent, while also generating substantial opportunities for Italian businesses in strategic sectors such as agriculture, infrastructure, and manufacturing.

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The Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2024 celebrated notable banking achievements in Africa during a ceremony in London on July 18, 2024. Key winners included Nedbank, recognized as the Best Digital Bank for its successful IT reforms that enhance cost efficiency and business growth. Societe Generale was awarded Best Bank in Africa for its commitment to sustainable finance and its long-standing presence on the continent.

Standard Bank was acknowledged as the Best Investment Bank for its expertise in the debt and loan markets, particularly in navigating M&A transactions. Bank of Africa was honored as the Best SME Bank for its significant support of small and medium-sized enterprises in the region.

Launch Africa Ventures has invested in Shiprazor , a logistics aggregator platform founded in 2022 by Sahil Affriya, aimed at transforming the e-commerce landscape in Africa. Shiprazor addresses the unique challenges faced by online retailers and logistics providers by connecting them through a comprehensive platform that streamlines operations, reduces costs, and enhances delivery experiences.

The platform offers various services, including Order Management Systems, Warehouse Management Systems, and Last-Mile Management Systems, allowing businesses to tailor their logistics strategies through a modular approach. Despite the challenges in Africa's logistics landscape, such as inadequate infrastructure, Shiprazor's innovative solutions position it to capitalize on the continent's growing e-commerce market, driven by increased internet access and a rising middle class.

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Intron Health , a health tech startup specializing in clinical speech recognition for over 200 accents, has raised $1.6 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Microtraction, with participation from various investors including Plug and Play Ventures and angel investors from companies like Google and NYU. Founded in 2020 by Tobi Olatunji MD , Intron aims to digitize healthcare by addressing data entry challenges that hinder the adoption of electronic medical records.

The company has developed Africa's first clinical speech recognition platform, achieving a 92% accuracy rate for medical terms with strong accents. This technology accelerates the implementation of Electronic Health Records and significantly reduces administrative burdens for doctors in countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda. Olatunji highlighted the platform's potential to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes while positively impacting hospital finances.

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Margaret Nyambura was nominated by President William Samoei Ruto PHD to hold the position of the Cabinet Secretary for ICT and the Digital Economy in Kenya.

Ms. Ndung’u holds an MBA in Management Sciences from the University of Nairobi and a Bachelor of Science in Information Sciences from Moi University.

She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa.

Her professional background includes serving as Senior Research Manager for the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership in May 2023, and she has held various significant roles such as Director and founding member of the Network of African Women in Cybersecurity (NAWC) and Research Associate at the Research ICT Africa .

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British International Investment (BII), the UK's development finance institution, has significantly increased its commitment to sustainable development in Africa. In 2023, BII allocated £725 million, or 61% of its total global commitments, to investments in African nations.Key highlights from BII's 2023 Annual Review, titled "Creating Impact Together":

• BII invested £449 million in climate finance across Africa and Asia, bringing the total over the last two years to more than £1 billion. This aligns with BII's goal of directing at least 30% of its total commitments towards climate finance over a five-year period.

• BII's investments in African businesses reached £724.9 million in 2023, up from £692 million in 2022. The institution supports 1,580 companies that directly employ nearly a million people across 65 countries.

• Notable investments include £21.8 million in AFEX, a leading commodities platform in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda, and £8.5 million in Planet Solar to provide clean, affordable solar power in Sierra Leone.

• Despite a financial loss after tax of £44.0 million, BII remains ahead of its target of a 2% return across its portfolio, measured on a rolling seven-year basis, with a seven-year weighted average annual portfolio return of 5.2%.

BII's Chair, Diana Layfield, emphasized the organization's vital role in addressing global challenges and the disparity in foreign direct investment, with Africa receiving just $40 per person compared to $651 in North America. Managing Director and Head of Africa, Chris Chijiutomi, reiterated BII's dedication to improving lives in Africa through job creation, essential services, and building resilient economies.

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Kaspersky has launched a new AI-focused module within its Kaspersky Automated Security Awareness Platform to help professionals combat AI-driven cyberattacks. This module responds to the rising demand for cybersecurity training related to AI, structured into two levels with seven lessons each. Level 1 covers how fraudsters exploit AI for malicious purposes, such as creating fake videos and voice impersonation, while Level 2 addresses risks in professional settings, including data privacy and AI system vulnerabilities.

The course is designed for users with no prior knowledge of AI, ensuring accessibility while providing comprehensive training on effective cybersecurity practices. Tatyana Shumaylova, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Kaspersky, emphasized the importance of equipping professionals with the skills needed to mitigate evolving cyber threats and strengthen their organizations' defenses.

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Monzo Bank, one of the UK's leading digital challenger banks, has been collaborating with Google Cloud to establish a robust data analytics hub that supports its rapid growth and enhances customer experiences. With over 9 million customers, Monzo is now the seventh largest bank in the UK by customer numbers, largely due to its innovative use of technology.

Monzo utilizes Google BigQuery, a serverless and cost-effective enterprise data warehouse, to store and access vast amounts of data generated from its systems and customer interactions. This empowers all teams within the bank to gain detailed insights into customer behavior and business performance. Additionally, the bank employs Looker, a data analytics platform, to analyze multi-terabyte data sets, enabling a wide range of business insights that inform strategic decisions.

With nearly 19 petabytes of data in BigQuery and over 2,000 data models, Monzo leverages machine learning to enhance its services, protect customers from fraud, and predict customer demand. The partnership also includes disaster recovery capabilities that ensure continuous data synchronization between cloud platforms, allowing Monzo to maintain critical services in the event of a failure. Suhail Patel, Senior Staff Engineer at Monzo, highlighted the importance of this collaboration, stating that it prepares the bank to introduce new products and continue its growth in the UK and beyond.

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Chinese Electric Vehicle Manufacturer CHERY is investing $20 million in Kenya's Afrigreen Automobile to establish an assembly plant in Nairobi. This investment is expected to boost the adoption of electric vehicles in the region and create approximately 3,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Nishant Mishra, the global head of Future Mobility at AfriGreen Automobile, stated that the assembly operations are set to begin within a month, with plans to assemble 5,000 to 6,000 vehicles annually for the Kenyan and COMESA markets. Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Investments, Trade, and Industry, Abubakar Hassan Abubakar, emphasized that the new assembly plant will contribute to a greener transport sector, as Kenya currently has about 4,000 electric vehicles among 1.7 million cars on the roads.

The investment from Chery aligns with a growing trend of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers entering the Kenyan market, following similar investments by companies like NETA, which plans to assemble 250 electric vehicles per month through its partnership with Moja EV Kenya.

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Apple has published a technical paper outlining the models developed for Apple Intelligence, its new range of generative AI features set to launch on iOS, macOS, and iPadOS. The paper addresses concerns about the ethical implications of its training methods, asserting that no private user data was used. Instead, Apple utilized a combination of licensed data and publicly available information, including datasets curated through its web crawler, Applebot.

The technical paper emphasizes that the training dataset for Apple Foundation Models (AFM) was sourced responsibly. This includes licensed data from undisclosed publishers and open-source code from platforms like GitHub, with a focus on using repositories that allow for AI training under minimal restrictions. Apple has also included math-related content in its training to enhance the models' capabilities.

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Visa is leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to combat fraud, preventing $40 billion in fraudulent activity from October 2022 to September 2023, nearly double the amount from the previous year. James Mirfin, Visa's global head of risk and identity solutions, explained that the company analyzes over 500 attributes for each of the 300 billion transactions it processes annually to assign a real-time risk score.

Scammers are increasingly employing AI-enabled tactics such as generating primary account numbers and testing them repeatedly through enumeration attacks, leading to $1.1 billion in annual fraud losses. Visa's AI models detect these patterns and flag high-risk transactions for customers to approve.

Cybercriminals are also exploiting generative AI tools like ChatGPT to create more convincing phishing messages and voice cloning to trick victims in romance scams, investment scams, and pig butchering tactics. Mirfin warned that these AI-enabled scams are becoming more sophisticated and causing unprecedented losses for consumers.

To combat these threats, Visa has invested $10 billion in technology over the past five years to reduce fraud and enhance network security. The company's AI-powered Provisioning Intelligence Service also helps weed out fraudulent token provisioning requests.

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The Monetary Authority of Singapore -MAS has announced a significant investment of $74.36 million (100 million Singaporean dollars) to support quantum computing and artificial intelligence (AI) projects through its Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Grant Scheme (FSTI 3.0). This funding aims to bolster innovation within banks and financial institutions as they develop capabilities in these advanced technologies.

This latest investment follows a previous allocation of $110 million to the FSTI in August 2023, underscoring MAS's commitment to fortifying Singapore's position as a leading international fintech hub. Launched in 2022, the FSTI 3.0 scheme is set to run until March 2026, with the possibility of extension. MAS intends to provide up to 50% funding for the establishment of quantum computing technology centers and up to 30% for companies creating quantum-based cybersecurity solutions.

In addition to quantum computing, MAS is focusing on AI, particularly in developing AI innovation centers that emphasize cybersecurity applications. The authority has noted the uneven adoption of AI across financial institutions in Singapore and aims to enhance AI readiness through this funding initiative.

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AWS Summit EMEA

AWS is hosting a series of free in-person and online events called AWS Summits around the world in 2024 to bring together the cloud computing community. These summits aim to educate attendees about AWS products and services and help them develop skills to build, deploy, and operate infrastructure and applications on AWS. Sessions are delivered by AWS experts, partners, and customers who share how they successfully built solutions on AWS.

At the AWS Summit Los Angeles 2024 and AWS Summit New York 2024, AWS VP of AI Matt Wood gave keynotes highlighting the latest advancements in generative AI on AWS. At the New York Summit, AWS announced new AI certifications, the AWS App Studio low-code app builder powered by generative AI, and updates to Amazon Bedrock for building generative AI applications.

Red Hat is participating as a sponsor at 23 AWS Summits globally in 2024, showcasing how their technologies can expedite cloud migrations to AWS and enable AI innovation. Additionally, the AWS Summit EMEA On-Demand Hub is now live, offering over 400 sessions across 9 EMEA summits covering topics like AI, machine learning, and digital transformation.

Learn More

🌍Global Economic Update

China's Weak Demand and Stimulus Talks

China's economy is slowing down, with the second quarter GDP growth at 4.7%, down from 5.3% in the first quarter. Weak domestic demand is a concern, despite strong output growth. Retail sales grew only 2% in June, the slowest since December 2022, while industrial production was up 5.3%. The government may need to introduce more stimulus measures to boost domestic demand.

US Economic Resilience

Despite predictions of a recession, the US economy remains strong. Factors include cash reserves post-pandemic and strong service sector growth. Immigration has also helped ease inflation and boost capacity. Consumer confidence remains shaky, but retail demand is healthy, excluding autos and gasoline.

ECB Keeps Rates Steady

The European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged. There is uncertainty about future rate cuts, with inflation still high in services. ECB President Christine Lagarde emphasized the need for cautious policy to balance inflation reduction and economic growth. Inflation is expected to return to 2% by the second half of 2025.

Do you have an exciting fintech story, innovation, or insight you'd love to share with our vibrant community? This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your achievements, share your expertise, or highlight how you're shaping the future of fintech in Kenya.

Don't hesitate to get in touch. Email us at [email protected] with a brief outline of what you'd like to feature. We can't wait to hear from you and potentially share your story with our community!

𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐥𝐲 -34,743+💙S𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬