General News
Mastercard, Paycode Partner to Increase Access to Financial Services & Govt Assistance for Remote Communities
An estimated 57 percent of the population in Sub Saharan Africa remains financially excluded while close to 30 percent remain without a form of identification and 60 percent of the continent has no internet connectivity, leaving these individuals unable to access government assistance and basic financial services.
To address these challenges, Mastercard has partnered with African fintech and Start Path company Paycode to provide both company’s offerings on one biometric smart card that will help increase access to critical services and advance economic inclusion for Africans living in remote communities.
Mastercard’s Community Pass™ platform will be included in Paycode’s Electronic Data And Payments Technology platform (EDAPT) that currently provides a secure, biometric identity as well as a digital bank account. Individuals can access digital financial services offline in real-time even if they lack a formal identity document such as a birth certificate or passport.
Together, Paycode and Mastercard deliver a path to prosperity, enabling users to manage day-to-day needs including paying school fees for children, getting vaccinations for their families, selling goods, and growing their businesses.
To enable this, Community Pass allows a person’s face or palm to be recognized at both online and offline locations, while ensuring best-in-class security of their individual data. Community Pass also leverages consistent technology standards so that an individual can seamlessly access financial, health, agricultural, or aid services across providers, including government disbursements.
The partnership’s goal is to onboard 30 million individuals living in remote, unconnected areas of Africa over the next three years, enabling them to access the products and services they need with a Community Pass biometric smart card that runs on Paycode’s EDAPT platform.
“Adding Inclusive ID functionality to Paycode biometric smart cards helps reach those currently excluded from critical government programs and ensures we are addressing basic financial needs of a dispersed population,” said Ricardo Pareja, SVP, Sales & Market Development, H&D for Mastercard.
“As we seek to drive beyond inclusion to fostering prosperity in communities across the globe, a critical focus for Mastercard is to help enable the interoperability and scale of solutions like those provided by Paycode.”
Ralph Pecker, ceo at Paycode said: “As Paycode we are proud to partner with global leaders like Mastercard to effect positive change for people on the ground and drive innovation in financial services delivery in deep rural areas.
“As leaders in last mile delivery and proof of life financial services technology, we play the important role of providing solutions that bring tremendous growth and financial access offline in real-time to the financial and technology sectors in Africa.”
“We believe that shared digital tools and scalable channels can drastically improve the reach and access to services, by reducing the cost to serve those communities as well as improving the effectiveness of service delivery.
“At Mastercard, we are committed to building an inclusive, sustainable economy where everyone has the opportunity to reach their potential,” says Selim Ergoz, Vice President, Business Development – Governments at Mastercard.
“Our trusted network powers digital transactions every day, making them safe, simple and smart and we apply this innovation to the most connected and the most remote communities around the world. By partnering with Paycode we will bring Mastercard’s suite of inclusion products to people in Africa that were previously unreachable, and that’s a game changer.”
Last year, Mastercard pledged to connect 1 billion people, including 50 million micro and small businesses, to the digital economy by 2025. As part of these efforts, the technology company has a direct focus on providing 25 million women entrepreneurs with solutions to grow their businesses.
Paycode’s mission is to give biometric identity and affordable access to basic financial services to over 50 million unbanked and underserved people in Africa by 2025.
Across the world, an estimated 3.4 billion people still struggle to meet basic needs such as access to food, life-saving healthcare, and schooling, and small businesses struggle to receive funding. Community Pass was developed as a shared interoperable digital platform designed by Mastercard to address these different needs.
Individuals can be recognized as the same person in different scenarios and make safe, secure, and convenient digital transactions – whether they are receiving healthcare services at a local clinic, checking into a school, or redeeming humanitarian cash aid to purchase goods at a local store.
Nigerian Military, in partnership with Briech UAS, a communications company, has unveiled the first and largest indigenous attack drones and bombs in Nigeria and Africa.
Briech UAS, alongside the Nigerian Army, demonstrated these attack drones and bombs at the company’s headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.
General Christopher Musa, chief of Defence Staff (CDS), hailed the initiative as a significant milestone in Nigeria’s progress toward self-reliance in defence technology and a crucial step in enhancing national security.
Musa highlighted the importance of developing combat drones, particularly for intelligence gathering. He pointed out that these drones would play a pivotal role in addressing complex and asymmetric security threats.
“These force multipliers will greatly enhance the operational effectiveness of our military, especially in a world where global politics complicate the procurement of advanced military hardware,” he stated.
“Countries that do not produce these solutions face bureaucratic and diplomatic challenges when acquiring essential platforms. We are directly addressing this challenge.
“If we do not produce what we need, we will be at the mercy of others, even if we have the financial resources to acquire them.
“By manufacturing these drones locally, Nigeria reduces dependence on foreign resources, ensures faster acquisition, and strengthens its ability to respond to security threats swiftly.
“With the brilliant minds we have, particularly among our youth, we can create outstanding technology that competes on a global scale,” Musa said.
Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang underlined the importance of supporting indigenous products for Nigeria’s growth.
He stressed that the drones would be vital in safeguarding the country’s sovereignty, particularly in Plateau State, where some of these technologies have already been deployed to enhance the efficiency of ground forces.
Mutfwang also revealed that his state was collaborating with local bomb and drone manufacturers like Briech UAS to counter insurgency with domestically produced weapons.
“As a nation, we made a mistake by allowing non-state actors to acquire capabilities nearly on par with state actors,” he stated.
“We’ve entered into a partnership that has led to the deployment of these facilities in our state. We’ve seen substantial improvements in the effectiveness of our security forces.
“It was a mistake to let non-state actors gather capabilities that could almost overpower legitimate state forces. We must correct that imbalance.
“We must ensure no one within our borders has capabilities that surpass or match those responsible for protecting our national sovereignty,” he added.
Earlier, Dr Bright Echefu, chairman of Briech UAS, noted that insurgent groups like Boko Haram and ISWAP have been using commercial drones for reconnaissance and attacks.
“These drones have been used to track and attack our troops, coordinating ambushes and executing crude aerial strikes,” he said.
Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), has trained and graduated 49 persons with disabilities (PWDs) from a nine-month IT programme aimed at bridging Nigeria’s digital divide.
The graduates, comprising 24 from DBI’s Lagos campus and 25 from its Kano campus, acquired industry-recognized certifications and essential digital skills to enhance their participation in the tech sector.
The IT Bridge Academy, a federal government initiative designed to support PWDs, provides specialized training to help them access opportunities in the modern digital economy.
The programme was implemented in partnership with Sightsavers International and is only the second of its kind in Africa, after a similar initiative in Kenya.
At the Lagos graduation ceremony, David Daser, president and CEO, DBI, represented by Viola Askia-Usoro, institute’s head of special duties, described the initiative as a major step towards digital inclusion.
“This academy is not just about education; it’s about creating opportunities for PWDs to realize their full potential,” he stated, highlighting the programme’s role in tackling stigma, discrimination, and limited access to training.
Daser urged the graduates to advocate for digital accessibility and called on public and private sector stakeholders to support inclusive initiatives that empower PWDs in Nigeria’s technology space.
Speaking on behalf of the graduates, cohort 2 class governor Amos Adegboyega acknowledged the challenges they faced during the programme and expressed gratitude for the support received, saying, “There are abilities in disability, and this training has given us the confidence to achieve our dreams.”
As digital financial transactions continued to expand worldwide, cybercriminals shifted their focus toward mobile devices and crypto assets. According to Kaspersky’s new Financial Cyberthreats report, the number of users encountering mobile banking Trojans rose by 3.6 times compared to 2023, while crypto‑related phishing detections climbed by 83.4%.
Meanwhile, PC‑focused malware saw a decline in traditional banking attacks but a surge in crypto‑asset theft. This data comes from Kaspersky’s new Financial Cyberthreats report for 2024.
Financial phishing
In 2024, online fraudsters continued to lure users to phishing and scam pages that mimicked the websites of popular brands and financial organisations. Banks were the most popular lure in 2024, accounting for 42.6% of financial phishing attempts (compared to 38.5% in 2023).
Amazon Online Shopping was mimicked by 33.2% of all phishing and scam pages targeting online store users in 2024, making it the most popular online brand target for fraudsters.
Apple’s share of attacks dropped nearly 3 p.p. on last year’s figure to 15.7%, while Netflix scams grew slightly to 16%. Meanwhile, fraudsters’ interest in the Alibaba marketplace increased, its share going up from 3.2% in 2023 to 8% in 2024.
Payment systems were mimicked in 19.3% of financial phishing attacks detected and blocked by Kaspersky products in 2024 (19.9% in 2023). Once again PayPal was the most targeted brand, however, the ratio of attacks related to it fell from 54.7% to 37.5%.
Attacks targeting Mastercard, on the contrary, nearly doubled from 16.6% in 2023 to 30.5% in 2024. American Express and Cielo are the new entrants into the top five replacing Visa, Interac and PayPay.
In 2024, the number of phishing and scam attacks related to cryptocurrencies saw a whopping increase. Kaspersky antiphishing technologies prevented 10,706,340 attempts to follow a cryptocurrency-themed phishing link, an 83.4% increase over the 2023 figure of 5,838,499. As cryptocurrency popularity continues to grow, the number of attacks is only ever going to get larger.
Financial malware for PCs
While the number of users who encountered mobile banking malware increased, the share of those who were affected by financial PC malware decreased from 312,453 in 2023 to 199,204 in 2024.
Currently most financial PC malware that Kaspersky detects is targeting not online banking, but crypto assets. The banking Trojans that were most often detected in 2024 included ClipBanker (62.9%), Grandoreiro (17.1%), CliptoShuffler (9.5%) and BitStealer (1.3%). Grandoreiro is a full-fledged banking Trojan that targeted 1,700 banks and 276 crypto wallets in 45 countries and territories around the globe in 2024.
Mobile financial threats
In 2024, the number of users who encountered mobile banking Trojans grew 3.6 times compared to 2023: from 69,200 to 247,949, with malicious activity significantly increasing in the second half of 2024.
The most active Trojan-Banker family in 2024 was Mamont (36.7%). Its distribution schemes ranged from simple scams to complex social engineering plots with fake stores and delivery tracking apps.
“In 2024, financial phishing and scams increased in numbers and reached a new level of sophistication, unleashing waves of attacks on users. Fraudsters are increasingly leveraging fake brands and services to get user data, and the popularity of smartphones for financial transactions only fuels their appetite.
Looking ahead, we expect financial phishing to become even more personalised and targeted, focusing on exploiting vulnerabilities in everyday digital habits, which will demand increased vigilance and thorough approaches to protection,” comments Olga Svistunova, senior web content analyst at Kaspersky.
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