The Fingo Africa app aims to enhance financial inclusion for young people both in Kenya and across the wider African landscape
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Part of the pan-African banking Group, Ecobank Kenya, launched the Fingo Africa app to enable African youth open bank accounts with their mobile phones.
Ecobank has developed the touth-focused app in close collaboration with a Kenyan FinTech company Fingo Africa. Fingo will first launch in Kenya where it is the first digital-only bank present to further roll out across the pan-African landscape.
The partners believe the app will be “a game-changer in digital finance in Africa that brings many young people into the mainstream financial sector and caters to their needs and preferences.”
Fingo’s digital account is free and quick to open. The sign-up doesn’t require a credit check or tons of other formal documentation typical for legacy institutions. It has no minimum balance and no monthly fees.
As for the available features, the app enables local youth and other customers to send money to other Fingo users for free, transfer funds to M-Pesa users and pay at stores using M-Pesa, as well as pay bills via Paybills and till numbers at subsidised rates.
Fingo Africa also encourages wealth-building from the young age, offering savings features with set goals and recurring deposits. Catering to youth, the app naturally involves some financial education tips and resources and smart spending analytics to help young people learn to manage their money wisely.
Besides performing basic functions, the app provides instant cashback rewards for day-to-day transactions.
In Kenya, fintech goes hand in hand with the crypto industry to try tackle the financial inclusion issues. Therefore, the country has recently proposed Crypto Transfer Tax to legitimize the transactions while also bringing another profit source to the national budget.
