AFricanBLOG

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California has sentenced Adedayo Akinwunmi Agbayewa to prison.

The 45-year-old resident of College Park in Georgia will spend five years behind bars for an international fraud scheme.

U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced the convict was ordered to pay $7,784,415 in restitution for mail fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

The Nigerian and his co‑conspirators were involved in a lottery or sweepstakes telemarketing enterprise that hoodwinked elderly victims.

Using pseudonyms, they informed their targets by mail or telephone that they had won sweepstakes or lottery and must first pay taxes or fees.

The victims mailed checks or deposited money into bank accounts provided by the individuals but never received any prize money.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina McCall prosecuted the case, the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and IRS‑Criminal Investigation.

The U.S. Department of Justice, through the Elder Justice Initiative, works to combat elder abuse, neglect, as well as financial fraud, and scams.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has called for collaboration to grow payments ecosystem in a bid to deepen and stimulate the growth of digital payment in Nigeria.

This was stated at the recently-concluded Interswitch Group two-day event tagged ‘Collaborating for Industry Growth and Profitability’. The industry players gathered to discuss how to strengthen the digital payment ecosystem and position Nigeria as a force to reckon with on the global payment landscape.

The industry leaders, drawn from banks, fintechs, micro-finance banks, telcos and other financial institutions reached the resolve that designing innovative financial products which speak to the needs of customers will spur growth and economic prosperity.

The experts also noted that players in the financial space need to synergise to explore avenues for mutual growth which will in turn create a robust payment ecosystem.

During the course of the two-day event, Interswitch officially unveiled eight new products designed to address prevailing issues within the payment ecosystem, enhance business development and boost customer experience.

The products include; Fintech-in-a-box; Fraud Solution-as-a-Service (FSAAS); Banking-as-a-Service; Payment-as-a- Service; Interswitch Security-as-a-Service; Mobile Banking-as -a-Service and Biometrics on POS and Value financing.

These products are tailored to provide seamless payment solution to banks, fintechs, micro-finance banks, other financial institutions and their customers. Essentially, these products will help to improve the digital payment solutions that financial institutions offer to their customers.

Director, Payment System Management Department, CBN, Jimoh Musa, said the apex bank’s responsibility as a regulator is to create an enabling environment where all the entrants can thrive and compete healthily.

“We understudy all the interoperable operations of each technology company, and all the participants generally. And from time to time, we bring all these entities together to dialogue to enable us to decide what the best industry practice is in relation to Nigeria’s payment ecosystem,” he said.

Speaking during the panel session, managing director, Interswitch Purepay, Akeem Lawal, said players in the payment industry must collaborate to provide opportunities to co-create solutions that make digital payment safer and further drive profitability.

He said: “Interswitch is committed to partnering with stakeholders to continuously drive financial inclusion through its innovative products and solutions. These products reaffirm the company’s continued drive to improving Nigeria’s digital payments landscape through innovation and the development of first-rate solutions and infrastructure that address pressing needs in the payments ecosystem.”

Lawal further said Interswitch will continue to enter partnerships that will not only simplify payments, but also drive prosperity across the continent.

The panelists noted that partnerships will allow players increase revenue and grow faster, avail them opportunities to leverage one another’s infrastructure, drive financial inclusion and build a robust ecosystem.

The panelists also urged players to collaborate more to provide quality service for the end users to enhance growth and more opportunities.

iiDENTIFii, the innovative biometrics tech firm, has raised $15 million growth capital to tackle identity theft within the financial sector in Africa.

The round was led by African investment company, Arise, whose cornerstone investors include Rabobank Partnerships, Norfund, NorFinance and FMO. This is, to date, the largest African Series A in the identity verification space.

iiDENTIFii will use this investment to fund its expansion across Africa. Cybercrime within the financial sector is a growing threat to the continent. The consequences of attackers exploiting security vulnerabilities are particularly severe for financial services and banking apps that process sensitive financial information. The use of iiDENTIFii’s biometric authentication to protect access to this sensitive financial information makes iiDENTIFii’s solution an integral part of financial inclusion, digital inclusion, and identity inclusion on the continent.

Commenting on the capital, iiDENTIFii founder and CEO, Gur Geva, in a press statement, said: “I am incredibly proud of our engineering team and our growth as a company over the past three years. This investment validates our central business thesis that we are the preferred partner for enterprise-grade identity in Africa.

“We are excited to put the investment to work as we close in on our goal of authenticating every face in Africa. With this new funding and the networks of Arise, Sanari, and Bill, we confidently continue our mission of stopping identity theft in Africa.’’

Arise CEO, Gavin Tipper added that, “in addition to complementing Arise’s portfolio of bank investments across Sub-Saharan Africa, this investment heralds our foray into the African fintech market.

“We are excited about our partnership with iiDENTIFii, which will allow us to offer their unique technology to banks in Sub-Saharan Africa, strengthening digital anti-money laundering practices and advancing financial inclusion.”

In the same vein, Sihle Gumede of Sanari Capital said: “At Sanari, we place a strong emphasis on digital and human enablement to unlock business potential. iiDENTIFii is, therefore, a great addition to our investment portfolio and we look forward to being part of its ongoing growth journey. We are excited about co-creating a scalable and sustainable pan-African biometrics business.”