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In recent years, Africa has witnessed substantial growth in its digital landscape, significantly altering the way people access financial services. Digital innovations, particularly in the domain of digital identity, have played a central role in extending financial access and fostering inclusion across the continent. In this discussion, we delve into the pivotal role of digital identity in advancing financial inclusion in Africa and how it has the potential to revolutionize the continent’s banking, payments, and financial services sectors.

From The Role of Digital Identity in Promoting Financial Access and Inclusion in Africa.

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New research by FreedomPay and Retail Economics shows that the UK is on the brink of a digital payments transformation, with digital wallet purchases set to surpass card transactions within ten years.
Currently, around a fifth (17.0%) of retail, leisure and hospitality spending is made through digital wallets; compared to over half (55.7%) by plastic, and a fifth (18.8%) for cash. This is set to increase to £127.7bn in 2027/28 (£72.5bn currently). By 2033, the share of digital wallet payments will likely more than double to 39.7% to £210bn.

From UK Digital Wallet Transactions Set To Surge Ahead Of All Other Payment Methods.

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In Southampton, England, bouncers at seven different venues will wear cameras with facial recognition in a 3 month trial to combat crime and identify barred individuals, according to Daily Echo.

From UK bouncers to trial body cams with facial recognition | Biometric Update.

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“If a person is not recognised on the cameras, data will be instantly and permanently deleted from the system within microseconds as the camera will only be matching against the images of those currently banned, which represent 65 known offenders.”

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In response to investor pressure, Mr Zuckerberg performed one of the fastest pivots in tech history. Within a fortnight of the third-quarter rout he slashed Meta’s spending plans, cut costs and fired staff. And in response to Openai’s Chatgpt and the blaze of excitement around generative artificial intelligence (gen ai for short) he launched an internal revolution aimed at using the technology to galvanise Meta’s core business. Those manoeuvres reveal a lot about Mr Zuckerberg’s leadership style. They may even end up vindicating his faith in the metaverse.

From How Mark Zuckerberg escaped a metaverse-sized hole.

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Responding to the new figures from the PSR, UK Finance takes aim at the social media and telecommunications platform which facilitate this type of fraud.

“What today’s data from the PSR does not show is where fraud starts,” states the industry forum. “Our data shows that 94 per cent of authorised fraud starts online or over the phone, through social media, fake messages and more. But the technology and telecommunications sectors bear no responsibility for reimbursing victims, which means there is little commercial incentive for them to truly tackle the enormous threat that continues to proliferate on their platforms and networks.

From Monzo and Starling among worst performers for APP fraud reimbursements.

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Przemek Praszczalek

Director, Identity Innovation, Cybersecurity & Intelligence (C&I) at Mastercard

Most shoppers did not fully know how the store worked actually, or how the payment was made, or the connection to the items selected for purchase. Perhaps they didn’t have to, and that’s the whole point…

From (13) An airport story: Creating an easy biometric payments experience for new users | LinkedIn.

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The United States consumer base is increasingly mobile-centric. Approximately 6.9 million Americans used mobile wallets to make in-store purchases, accounting for 6.2% of all transactions. Apple Pay represents just more than half of the mobile wallet landscape, with 3.8 million consumers representing 3.5% of all transactions.

From: Apple Pay Use In-Store Gets Boost From Tap to Pay.

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In fact, 3.8 million consumers used Apple Pay in-store, but they used Apply Pay Later for just 500,000, or 13%, of these purchases.

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They may even end up vindicating his faith in the metaverse.

From: How Mark Zuckerberg escaped a metaverse-sized hole.

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More compelling in the near term is ai’s potential for advertising. Since Apple restricted Meta’s ability to track user data across third-party apps on iPhones, Mr Zuckerberg’s firm has had to overhaul its advertising business “down to the studs”, says Eric Seufert, an independent analyst. It has done that fairly effectively, he thinks, by using ai to model user behaviour, rather than tracking the behaviour itself. Last year the company rolled out ad technology called Advantage+, which used ai to automate the creation of ad campaigns.

From: How Mark Zuckerberg escaped a metaverse-sized hole.

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Amazon is building a team to work on artificial intelligence tools that will generate photos and videos for merchants to use in advertising campaigns on its platform, a company spokesperson confirmed, efforts that could help diversify its ad business.

Amazon’s ad business has grown by double-digit percentages every quarter since Amazon started breaking out its revenue in 2021. It brought in $38 billion last year but currently centers on ads that give merchants a boost in search results.

From: Amazon Plans to Generate Photos and Videos for Advertisers Using AI — The Information.

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Federal law prohibits businesses from charging consumers additional fees to pay with a debit card.

From: Want a Discount? Pay in Cash – WSJ.

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