Cash is probably not going to disappear anytime soon in Africa, but a growing number of digital finance initiatives – including two recently announced in Kenya and Nigeria – may help to accelerate the process.

Global payments company Mastercard and Saudi fintech business Geidea have announced a strategic partnership agreement to accept Mastercard payments for Tap on Phone solutions in Saudi Arabia. This is claimed to be the first such agreement to be signed in the Middle East and North Africa.

Zimbabwean financial services provider First Capital Bank has announced the launch of Alisa, a WhatsApp banking chatbot, bringing together machine learning and cognitive computing technologies to provide customers and clients with various banking services.

The global drive to encourage digital payment continues – this time with an announcement from Sri Lankan operator SLT-Mobitel that its mobile money arm mCash has partnered with payments solution giant Visa.

Digital fintech enablement provider Ukheshe Technologies and Infobip, a global cloud communications platform that enables businesses to build connected customer experiences, say they have developed South Africa’s very first WhatsApp payment gateway. It is to be used by mobile operator Telkom.

Somalia’s Hormuud Telecom already offers mobile money services but, in an effort to formalise the country’s fast-growing digital payments infrastructure and integrate it with the global financial system, Somalia’s central bank has now awarded the country’s first mobile money licence to the operator.

Digital and mobile finance and payment services are continuing to make advances in developing regions – as recent announcements involving Latin America and the Middle East suggest.

Two admirable aims – financial inclusion and environmental responsibility – are at the heart of recent announcements from pan-African operator MTN.

Following hard on the heels of yesterday’s Bango and Tpay mobile money alliance comes another multi-regional digital finance deal. This time Wari and Lycaremit have announced a strategic partnership to facilitate cross-border remittance.

China’s central bank is seeking feedback on its antitrust proposals for stricter regulation of payment services provided by non-bank companies, such as Alibaba and Tencent.

Reports in the Kenyan press are making clear how much of a hit the country’s banks have taken from the recent surge in mobile money payments.

Nepal is set to receive a new player in its mobile financial space in the form of the Nepali Digital Payment Company.

Further proof of the vast strides being made by cashless payment on the African continent comes from Malawi where a new agreement aims to enhance the country’s e-commerce sector.

Philippines-based mobile wallet platform GCash gained an investment of over $175 million from private equity company Bow Wave Capital Management (Bow Wave) and shareholders, as part of the financial growth plans of Globe Telecom.

There’s been a boost for the relatively underpenetrated fintech services market in the Middle East with the award to operator Zain’s subsidiary Tamam of a Saudi microfinance licence.

Measures to ease access to mobile money in Kenya are about to come to an end, but they appear to have been a success.

Barely a week goes by, it seems, without the announcement of another digital money transfer service in Africa. The latest involves Co-operative Bank of Kenya, a leading financial institution in Kenya and the larger East Africa region, and Thunes, a cross-border payment provider.

Another major name has recently been added to the growing list of companies driving the mobile money transfer trend in Africa – and Xoom, PayPal’s money transfer service, says it is also offering lower charges than the average for its service.

Welcome news for Kenyan operator Safaricom, though possibly less so for its customers, is that coronavirus-related price cuts affecting its mobile payment business may end soon.

A couple more examples of the growing importance of cashless, mobile phone-based payments in Africa have emerged in recent days – this time in South Africa and Uganda.

Alibaba financial arm Ant Group denied it was preparing to offload shares in India-based digital payments company Paytm, due to tensions between China and India bringing more restrictive market conditions.

The total number of mobile money users in emerging markets will exceed 1.2 billion in 2025. That’s a key finding of a new study from Juniper Research, which provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector.

Ericsson penned a five-year deal to expand and modernise Mozambique Telecom’s (TMCEL) network and digital services ecosystem, a move with a focus on boosting the operator’s mobile money solutions.

Fintech deals continue to make news in Africa as more companies – and countries – embrace digital payment and banking.