TechCabal Daily – A bigger piece of Cairo

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South Africa will not be making an attempt to kill money. It is making an attempt to make utilizing it cheaper.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) needs the nation’s greater than 30,000 automated teller machines (ATMs) to become a shared, unbranded network. Small withdrawals, deposits, and stability enquiries can be free beneath a set restrict, regardless of which financial institution owns the machine.

What occurred? A pilot begins in January 2027. By March, the central financial institution needs to create a nationwide money utility, then start folding money centres run by corporations akin to SBV and Fidelity into that system by mid-year. The first white-label ATMs are anticipated earlier than the top of 2027.

Explain like I’m new right here: Today, every financial institution runs its personal ATM community, money centres, and logistics. That means duplicated machines, autos, routes, and vaults, all shifting bodily cash round. SARB needs to pool a lot of that infrastructure and make ATMs work extra like a nationwide utility.

The economics clarify the urgency. South Africa has about R180.65 billion ($10.9 billion) in cash in circulation, in accordance with the SARB. The broader annual financial price of utilizing money—together with charges, journey, time, and crime-related losses—is estimated at nearly R90 billion ($5.5 billion). Cash accounts for about 56% of consumer transactions in South Africa, in accordance with a Reserve Bank-commissioned examine utilizing 2024 as its base yr, whilst digital fee alternate options expanded.

Between the strains: Fewer money transactions don’t robotically make ATMs cheaper to run. The machines, guards, money vans, and vaults nonetheless price cash. When these prices are unfold throughout fewer transactions, every withdrawal prices extra. Rural and low-income areas are normally the primary locations the place banks lower machines.

A shared community flips that mannequin. Banks cease duplicating the identical infrastructure, whereas the central financial institution can place ATMs the place entry is most wanted.

What to look at: The tough half might be getting banks to give up some management over machines they presently model, value, and use to maintain clients of their banking networks. If the mannequin works, South Africa won’t have fewer ATMs. But it’s going to have fewer causes for each financial institution to have its personal.

Egypt could make one of its greatest upcoming listings even bigger.

Banque Misr is considering selling up to 45% of Banque du Caire, Egypt’s sixth-largest industrial financial institution by property, in its upcoming preliminary public providing (IPO), up from the 30% announced on October 11. Investment banks engaged on the deal really helpful the bigger sale after roadshows drew robust investor curiosity globally.

Here’s a easy back-of-napkin maths: At Banque du Caire’s reported valuation of EGP 80 billion–EGP 80.5 billion ($1.5 billion–$1.51 billion), according to local publication Asharq Business, a forty five% stake can be value between EGP 36 billion–EGP 36.2 billion ($670 million–$674 million), in contrast with EGP 24 billion–EGP 24.2 billion ($447 million–$451 million) for 30%. 

Those figures assume the shares promote on the reported valuation. Bloomberg reported on Sunday that the financial institution was in search of as much as EGP 24.25 billion ($454 million) from a 30% sale and will enhance the stake to 45%, relying on demand. The bigger supply would take Egypt previous that concentrate on, turning into the nation’s largest itemizing in years.

Catch up: This IPO has been a decade within the making. Egypt first announced plans to drift 20% of Banque du Caire in March 2016. The financial institution’s shares have been provisionally listed on the Egyptian Exchange in 2017, however the sale was delayed. Another try in 2020 was shelved after COVID-19 hit world markets.

Another necessary element: Banque du Caire won’t obtain the cash. The IPO completely consists of present shares owned by Banque Misr, its state-owned shareholder. Selling 45% places about 6.86 billion shares into traders’ palms in contrast with 4.58 billion below the present plan. Trading is predicted to start in November.

Between the strains: Going bigger does greater than increase additional money for the state. It leaves extra Banque du Caire shares accessible for traders to commerce after the IPO, which may assist make the inventory extra liquid. More importantly, growing the sale as a result of traders requested for extra would sign that overseas urge for food for Egypt’s privatisation programme is returning.

Zoom out: Egypt’s inventory alternate already has a robust line-up for This fall. MNT-Halan, the nation’s first fintech unicorn, would start buying and selling on October 20, after its floated shares were at least three times oversubscribed. The deliberate itemizing goals to lift $150 million, with extensive retail traders’ participation anticipated. With Banque du Caire taking up the next month, there’s loads of pleasure in Egypt proper now.

In June, Vodacom, one of Africa’s largest telecom corporations, bought a majority stake in Safaricom, the operator of M-PESA. Four months later, a Kenyan court docket stated it ought to undo the sale. Now, the shares stay in Vodacom’s custody because the authorized battle over who will get to maintain them strikes to the following spherical.

What occurred? On October 13, Kenya’s Court of Appeal ordered that the current position across the Safaricom shares and the $1.9 billion buy value stay unchanged whereas it fast-tracks the attraction. That means Vodacom stays the registered holder of the 15% stake it purchased from the Kenyan authorities.

Explain like I’m new right here: Vodacom purchased 15% of Safaricom from the Kenyan authorities, plus one other efficient 5% from Vodafone, its subsidiary, taking its stake from 35% to a majority of 55%. However, the deal bumped into authorized bother. 

Critics, together with broadcaster Tony Gachoka and educational Frederick Ogola, challenged the sale, arguing that the federal government had not correctly concerned the general public within the resolution. The court docket froze it in March, then unfroze it in June. In September, the High Court declared the transaction unconstitutional and ordered the stake returned to the Kenyan authorities, throwing a spanner within the state’s plan to finance tasks from these proceeds.

What’s the state of Safaricom’s possession? Because Vodacom stays the registered holder of the shares, it could actually proceed exercising the rights hooked up to its majority stake, together with voting as a shareholder and taking part in selections that require shareholder approval. If the High Court judgment survives the attraction, Vodacom would lose the 15% stake it purchased from the federal government and fall again to roughly 40%.

Ghana is seeking to enhance income, and taxing clients on the overseas digital companies they use—akin to Netflix, YouTube, and WhatsApp—is one technique.

On October 15, the nation launched Real-Time VAT (RTVAT) that lets the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the nation’s taxman, gather value-added tax (VAT) on qualifying digital companies when clients pay overseas suppliers via Ghana-issued playing cards, cellular cash accounts, and different digital fee channels. 

The system applies to non-resident corporations promoting digital companies to clients in Ghana, together with streaming platforms, cloud storage suppliers, software program subscriptions, internet advertising, and digital marketplaces.

Explain like I’m new right here: This didn’t begin in the present day. Ghana has required foreign digital service providers to register for VAT since 2022. The GRA created an online registration and submitting system for non-resident e-commerce companies, requiring them to declare their Ghanaian gross sales and remit the taxes they gather. 

However, Ghana can not ship a tax officer to a supplier’s workplace month-to-month to verify whether or not the best VAT was paid. Under RTVAT, when a Ghanaian buyer pays for an eligible overseas digital service utilizing a Ghana-issued card, cellular cash account, or pockets, the fee supplier can determine the transaction, withhold the relevant tax, and ship it to the GRA.

Why is Ghana doing this? The GRA stated that as of October 14, about 92 non-resident digital service suppliers have been registered on the tax assortment portal, whereas about 100 others both failed to gather the required taxes or haven’t remitted them. The authority beforehand estimated that an automatic assortment system may increase greater than GH¢2.5 billion ($213 million) yearly, in contrast with roughly GH¢515 million ($44 million) a year it presently collects.

What adjustments for customers? If your Netflix invoice already contains Ghanaian taxes, the GRA stated RTVAT shouldn’t make you pay them twice. However, if a overseas supplier beforehand didn’t gather the required tax, your closing invoice may now rise by 20%. 

Zoom out: Banks, cellular cash operators, fee service suppliers and different licenced fee processors dealing with these transactions should combine with the RTVAT system. They should now accurately determine taxable transactions, gather and remit the correct quantity, and reverse the tax when refunds or chargebacks occur.

The World Wide Web3

Source:

Coin Name	Current Value	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$82,086	+ 1.94%	+ 8.23%
Ether	$2,445	+ 4.12%	+ 1.79%
XRP	$1.33	+ 3.17%	+ 3.33%
Solana	$105.83	+ 4.13%	+ 9.07%

* Data as of 06.54 AM WAT, October 16, 2026.

Written by: Emmanuel Nwosu and Yemi Kareem

Edited by: Emmanuel Nwosu & Ganiu Oloruntade