Fintech Snacks 🍿 | April 13 2023
My job is to make sure your weekly reading list on African fintech is lit 🔥
Just how are we already in April? Weren’t we just celebrating New Year's Eve like two mins ago 😳?
🤓 Anyways, did you catch yourself a reading break this week? (you should have, you deserve it!)
🔍 Here’s what I got up to 👇🏾:
#1: 💳 Popular Fintech’s VISA vs Mastercard: visualizing the might of the payment giants
I thought this was a pretty cool data story on the 10-year performance of VISA & Mastercard, among the top card networks in the world.
This was my favourite chart 👇🏾
Get this: VISA hasn’t reported a quarterly net loss in 11 years (since Q2 2012), and for Mastercard, it’s been 15 years (Q2 2008). Talk about stable business models!
There’s been chatter about the potential for BNPL companies to disrupt these major card networks. I’m not sure how I feel about that theory yet, but one thing these networks have that BNPL companies will struggle to match is ubiquitous acceptance.
#2: 🔥 Matt Brown’s Interchange is a burning platform
Y’all know I am a sucker for titles, this one got me.
The author basically debunks the idea that fintechs can build scalable businesses by relying on card revenue (i.e. commissions on card transactions) because those fees are constantly being compressed.
He makes the case that more fintech companies will transform into software companies (just like Stripe, Square & Block are doing)
In Nigeria, I think Moniepoint is a great example of a payments fintech morphing into a software company (focused on meeting small businesses’ needs)
Can you think of any others?
#2: 🔍 Faysal Oudmine’s LinkedIn post comparing Stripe vs Adyen’s business model
I’m throwing this one in here because sometimes insights can come in the form of a lengthy LinkedIn post you stumble on a lazy evening.
Although Stripe has been a household name in the US payment space since 2010, for most of us African tech enthusiasts, it was Stripe’s acquisition of Paystack in 2020 that brought them into the limelight.
One clear contrast between Stripe & Adyen is Stripe is focused on smaller merchants while Adyen focuses on larger enterprise clients. Can we use the same distinctions to compare Paystack and Flutterwave? 🤔 or are their target audiences a mix of both types of businesses?
That’s all folks. Come back for more next week 😅
By the way, I’m constantly looking out for newsletters that do a great job of dissecting complex fintech topics in really fun and insightful ways. If you know (or write) any, feel free to drop links in the comments.
See y’all next week,
Nchy 😊
Disclaimer: All content in this newsletter solely reflects my views and opinions. They are not a product of any sponsored ads. Nor are they associated with my current employer.