Banking, Finance and Investment

The COVID-19 pandemic created a strong demand for businesses across the globe – micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. MSMEs remain the strongest drivers of economic development, innovation, and employment but run on smaller operational margins. Opportunities meant for women entrepreneurs lag behind that of men. This is evident in the Ethiopia Women Entrepreneurship Development Project … Read more

PayPal is looking at acquisition possibilities for cryptocurrency companies, including bitcoin custodian BitGo, a report from Bloomberg says. The move would help PayPal boost its embrace of digital coins. The company recently announced that users can buy, sell and hold digital coins including bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin from digital wallets, and also use … Read more

Before 2014, talking to a virtual assistant and instructing it to turn on the lights, start the dishwasher or order up the groceries was the sort of thing the average consumer would more expect to see in a science fiction or superhero movie than in their house. But the release of Alexa and the first … Read more

Update 20/10/20: The original article previously stated that Lanistar’s funding came from London-based Milaya Capital. Since publication the source of funding has changed. Lanistar, a UK challenger bank hopeful, has landed £15 million in funding from family members of Lanistar’s CEO, Gurhan Kiziloz. The start-up says the new capital injection puts its valuation at £150 … Read more

Ant Group has received approval from Chinese regulators for the Hong Kong leg of its $30 billion initial public offering (IPO). Three people with direct knowledge of the matter, tell The Financial Times (FT) that Ant was given clearance by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on 19 October. The company still needs approval from … Read more