Rabat's regulators confirm the forced break-up of the bank-owned payments monopoly, opening merchant acquiring to a new generation of digital players and slashing transaction fees for small shops.
Deal data, donor retreats and a pivot to venture capital and debt are hollowing out the cohort-based accelerator model that once launched a generation of African startups. A new landscape is forming, but it leaves a gap where the first cheque used to be.
Rabat's regulators confirm the forced break-up of the bank-owned payments monopoly, opening merchant acquiring to a new generation of digital players and slashing transaction fees for small shops.
Deal data, donor retreats and a pivot to venture capital and debt are hollowing out the cohort-based accelerator model that once launched a generation of African startups. A new landscape is forming, but it leaves a gap where the first cheque used to be.
Fintechs that treat this period as worth the resourcing cost are, at minimum, better positioned to anticipate the eventual rules than those that wait for a published standard to react to.
