The announcement of the E-Levy was made in November 2021 by the country’s finance minister.

Just like any other move, it too came with some industry stakeholders supporting it while some said that it would have a negative impact on digital payments and will affect the digitization journey.

The agencies involved in the implementation of the levy are the Ghana Revenue Authority, banks and specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions (DFIs), electronic money issuers (EMIs), and telecommunications companies (telcos).

According to Africa News, these agencies have put in place the relevant systems as well as mechanisms so as to start collecting 1.5 percent as a levy on daily electronic transfers.

As for the working, suppose A sends $7 in the morning and $6 in the evening, then the levy will not be applied. Whereas, if B sends $13 in the morning and $20 in the evening then they will be charged a 1.5 percent e-levy on the $20.

With this system in place, it is expected that people will soon start turning their backs on electronic payments. According to BBC, the Central Bank of Ghana reported that the industry lost over $1 billion in the last two months since November as people had started using cash ahead of the system coming into effect.

The government took this step to build a digital economy and at the same time reduce the use of physical cash. But it seems like it is not working as a huge drop in the use of mobile money services can be seen.

The post Ghana implements E-Levy appeared first on International Finance.

This partnership will also make handheld POS terminals and other digital equipment needed by merchants a lot more affordable and accessible. It is also expected to reduce the cost of acquisition and make it easy for them to buy, sell, and get paid.

Tayo Oviosu, founder and CEO of Paga Group told the media, “We have built the best on-ramps and off-ramps for cash in Nigeria through the Paga agent network and are further digitising merchants via our new merchant platform, Doroki. Across our ecosystem, we currently have over 33,000 merchants. Our collaboration with Untapped is accelerating our progress to reaching 120,000 merchants in the next two years by lowering the startup and onboarding costs for merchants.”

Another initiative of the Untapped Global also includes Smart Asset Financing, an innovative investment model focused on providing fixed capitals for fast-growing enterprises like Paga. Commenting on the partnership, Jim Chu, founder and CEO at Untapped said the network of the POS devices through this partnership is quite powerful. He also added that the partnership will lead to a seamless way for merchants and their customers to carry out financial transactions.

The post Untapped Global and Paga partner to make digital payments seamless in Nigeria appeared first on International Finance.

João Del Valle, CEO, and co-founder of EBANX said, “Our goal has always been to develop the highest-performing digital payments solutions, recruit the best technology talent and business minds, and deliver a superior value proposition that makes it easier and more cost-effective for global companies to access and grow their businesses across Latin America. We are excited to have Advent join us on our journey and help us accelerate our growth.”

Advent International is one of the largest private equity firms in the world and is also one of the most successful investors in the payments industry. They have invested in companies such as Vantiv, Worldpay, Nets, Nexi, Planet, Xplor Technologies, Prisma, Concardis, Monext, and Stone. Advent International joins FTV Capital as a minority investor in EBANX.

Last month, EBANX announced that they have appointed João Del Valle as their new chief executive officer (CEO). Del Valle will be replacing Alphonse Voigt, who was CEO of the company for nine years. Apart from being the present CEO, Del Valle is also one of the co-founders of EBANX and worked as the chief operating officer (COO) for three years and as the chief technology officer (CTO) for seven years, prior to this.

The post EBANX secures 430 mn funding from Advent International to expand its operations appeared first on International Finance.