fintech digest
The Next Era of Private Credit, Scaling Embedded Finance in Africa And More
Research Team
18 October 2024
The Next Era of Private Credit
Private credit has been one of the fastest-growing segments of the financial system over the past 15 years. The asset class, as commonly measured, totaled nearly $2 trillion by the end of 2023, roughly ten times larger than it did in 2009. While that total remains a small fraction of the broader fixed-income landscape, private financing solutions continue to perform well—and win, in many instances—against bank and public alternatives.
What Will It Take to Grow and Scale Embedded Finance in Africa?
Embedded finance is changing the payment landscape in Africa. With it, non-financial businesses are offering specialised services to consumers across the continent.
Now, there are BNPL platforms with virtual accounts customers can fund to pay for products and services. Ride-hailing products now allow you to ride and pay later. This was not the case a few years ago, as there was still a lot of focus on growing payment products.
Stabilisation of Financing for German Fintechs
The first six months of 2024 were challenging for the global fintech market, characterised by geopolitical uncertainties and high interest rates. Total global investment fell from USD 62.3 billion in H2/23 to USD 51.9 billion - the lowest figure since H1/20. The EMEA region was particularly affected, where investment fell from USD 19.4 billion to USD 11.4 billion.
Why Wall Street is Warming to the Tokenization of Assets
Cryptocurrencies were invented in the heat of the 2008-2009 financial crisis to provide an alternative to banks. Many banks and financial institutions on Wall Street that initially scoffed at the dreams of devotees known as "cypherpunks" some 15 years ago are now not only in the cryptocurrency business, they're also beginning to adopt the underlying blockchain technology.
Sam Altman’s Eyeball Scanning Crypto Project is Rebranding to 'World'
Worldcoin, Sam Altman’s cryptocurrency project that scans the irises of people in exchange for an allotment of digital tokens, is rebranding as “World,” the company said Thursday, as it works to define its purpose and expand its scope.
The project initially launched with the goal of providing a universal basic income, using a basketball-sized biometric reader called an orb to collect iris data in exchange for a one-time payment of the company’s WLD cryptocurrency.