Africa’s Biggest Bank Standard Bank Signs Fintech Deal to Target Small Shops

Standard Bank and Nomanini Standard Bank and Nomanini

Over the past half a decade or so, the Fintech Industry has grown at a remarkably high pace, and now it is rapidly growing in almost all continents. Africa may have been late to get into this revolution, but now a range of Fintech firms have come about that provide a wide range of services to its users. However, the traditional powerhouses of the financial sector, the banks also want to get into it and are now picking up stakes in promising Fintech companies. In a new development, South Africa’s Standard Bank, which is the biggest bank in Africa by assets, has decided to buy a stake in the Fintech company Nomanini.

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Nomanini is involved in providing credit to small shop owners and merchants in the African continent with credit facilities. It is a promising business since many such small shop owners and merchants do not have access to the traditional channels when it comes to obtaining credit. Standard Bank has invested $4 million in the Fintech company, and it is a deal that could prove to be a highly intelligent one in the years to come. It is also interesting to note that Nomanini aims to expand its service considerably by 2021 and make its services available in as many as 14 countries inside Africa.

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The deal with Nomanini gives Standard Bank an excellent way of getting into the Fintech sector but also allows it to study the date with regards to the shopkeepers in the continent in a much more comprehensive fashion. As everyone knows, the availability of actionable data is now one of the most important things in banking, and hence, this deal could also help Standard Bank in its core banking business. The potential of small merchants in Africa remains untapped, and this particular deal could open up a big opportunity for the bank. It is a massive opportunity for Standard Bank and also the Fintech sector in the continent of Africa. The association with the continent’s biggest bank is going to be a huge deal for Nomanini as well, which wants to grow rapidly like most startups. However, it remains to be soon how the whole integration process works and whether Standard Bank can get the sort of data that could further expand its banking business.