TECH ROUNDUP! Chipper Cash allays customers’ fears, Wallet Africa makes crucial announcement

• Chipper Cash said customers’ funds are safe amidst SVB crash

• Wallets Africa customers said withdrawals they made in February haven’t been delivered

• Signature Bank has been shut down by the U.S. regulators

  HSBC has acquired the UK subsidiary of Silicon Valley Bank

Chipper Cash CEO, Ham Serunjogi has made clarifications about the impact of the Silicon Valley Bank crash on the company. He admitted that the bank held over a million dollars of its money at the time of the crash. “We had a very limited amount of money (only about $1M) held in our SVB account at the time the bank was taken over by the California regulator,” he said in a blog post.

“We have already received confirmation from the FDIC that we can expect about half the funds back by Monday March 13th 2023. Furthermore, there was absolutely no impact on our customer operations around the world…I also wanted to talk about the fact SVB was one of our many investors, and led our Series C round in 2021. SVB made their investment in Chipper Cash in 2021 and we received those funds as soon as that round closed,” he said.

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He added that “SVB owns [only] a very small part of Chipper Cash ~2%.”

Meanwhile, Multiple Wallets Africa customers said that withdrawals they made over a month ago haven’t been delivered even after they were debited. The company told customers initially that it was dealing with unusual traffic but has since stopped responding. In one case, the company blocked a user on Twitter and has now switched off their customer care line.

Naspers has shut down its 100 million dollars South Africa-focused technology investment fund, Nasper Foundry, as the group slims operations and venture capital takes a hit globally. “The global investment environment, as well as the local SA one, has changed and we have made clear the need for our business to adapt,” a spokesperson said.

POLITICS

Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos has warned businesses to accept the old Naira notes after the Supreme Court ruling that it will be a legal tender till the end of December. “I urge all businesses in Lagos to accept the old notes as it is legal tender. Anyone rejecting these notes will be heavily sanctioned as we kick off monitoring,” he tweeted. “If a bank refuses to accept deposits of old notes, please lodge a complaint with LASCOPA,” he added.

CBN has declared that the old N200, N500, and N1000 notes remain legal tender until December 31, 2023, Technext reports. “Deposit Money Banks operating in Nigeria have been directed to comply with the Supreme Court ruling of March 3, 2023. Accordingly, the CBN met with the Bankers’ Committee and has directed that the old N200, N500 and N1000 banknotes remain legal tender alongside the redesigned banknotes till December 31, 2023,” CBN said.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Microsoft has added 13 new African languages to its Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services Translator; including chiShona, Hausa, Igbo, Kinyarwanda, Lingala, Luganda, Nyanja, Rundi, Sesotho, Sesotho sa Leboa, Setswana, Xhosa, and Yoruba. “The addition of new African languages enables more people and businesses to connect across languages and means that language will become a seamless feature of using technology,” Wael Elkabbany, GM of Microsoft Africa Regional Cluster said.

Facebook parent Meta said on Saturday that it would end the availability of news content for Canadians on its platforms if the country’s Online News Act passes in its current form. The “Online News Act,” or House of Commons bill C-18, introduced in April last year laid out rules to force platforms like Meta and Alphabet to negotiate commercial deals and pay news publishers for their content.

WORLD 

The multinational bank, HSBC has acquired the UK subsidiary of the embattled Silicon Valley Bank which crashed last weekend for 1 pound. SVB UK had incurred loans of around 5.5bn Pounds and deposits of about 6.7bn Pounds. The assets and liabilities of SVB’s parent are excluded from the transaction. “This acquisition makes excellent strategic sense for our business in the UK. It strengthens our commercial banking franchise and enhances our ability to serve for innovative and fast-growing firms, including in the technology and life-science sectors, in the UK and internationally,” HSBC CEO, Noel Quinn said.

Signature Bank has been shut down following orders received from U.S. regulators. However, depositors are set to recoup the money in their accounts. In a statement, the Federal Reserve explained that the decision to close the bank was made in consultation with the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to protect the US economy and strengthen public confidence in the banking system.

 

 

ENIGERIA NEWSPAPER