Innovation Village Newsletter
Posts
🏦Fidelity Bank Sets Jan 1 NIN/TIN Deadline

🏦Fidelity Bank Sets Jan 1 NIN/TIN Deadline

Plus: 🛒Fynd Enters South Africa Retail Market

Innovation Village
December 17, 2025

‘

Good Morning Valued Subscribers👋

The new year is starting with a reminder that the era of “I’ll sort it out later” is quickly closing. As banks tighten compliance and regulators push for cleaner financial records, everyday banking is becoming less forgiving of missing details. For many customers, what used to feel like background paperwork is now moving front and center, with real consequences attached.

This shift reflects a broader push to align Nigeria’s financial system with stronger identity verification and tax transparency. Banks are under pressure to ensure every account is properly linked, not just to protect against fraud, but to meet evolving regulatory standards. For customers, it’s another signal that staying active in the financial system increasingly means staying compliant.

If there’s one takeaway heading into the new year, it’s that administrative loose ends are no longer harmless. The small details—IDs, records, and documentation are fast becoming the difference between seamless banking and unexpected disruptions.

Let’s dive in.👇

Today’s Menu ☕️

🏦Fidelity Bank Sets Jan 1 NIN/TIN Deadline
🛒Fynd Enters South Africa Retail Market
📶Airtel Restores RCS Messaging With Google
🌐 Google to End Dark Web Monitoring in 2026
📲WhatsApp Introduces Ads—Chats Remain Private

🏦BANKING

Fidelity Bank Sets Jan 1 NIN/TIN Deadline

Fidelity Bank has warned customers that from January 1, 2026, accounts not linked to a National Identity Number (NIN) or Tax Identification Number (TIN) may face transaction restrictions. The directive follows the Nigerian Tax Administration Act (NTAA) 2025, which mandates identity or tax linkage for all bank accounts. Customers without a TIN can use their NIN as a substitute. The policy is part of broader efforts to improve tax compliance, strengthen financial transparency, and reduce revenue leakages, with banks now responsible for enforcing compliance across their customer base........….continue reading

🛒E-COMMERCE

Fynd Enters South Africa Retail Market

AI-native retail platform Fynd has expanded into South Africa, signing luxury retailer Surtee Group as its first local customer. The move brings Fynd’s unified commerce stack—covering storefronts, order management, warehousing, and clienteling—to a fast-growing retail market seeking seamless online and offline integration. The expansion positions Fynd as a key player in modernising omnichannel retail across Africa..........….continue reading

What investment is rudimentary for billionaires but ‘revolutionary’ for 70,571+ investors entering 2026?

Imagine this. You open your phone to an alert. It says, “you spent $236,000,000 more this month than you did last month.”

If you were the top bidder at Sotheby’s fall auctions, it could be reality.

Sounds crazy, right? But when the ultra-wealthy spend staggering amounts on blue-chip art, it’s not just for decoration.

The scarcity of these treasured artworks has helped drive their prices, in exceptional cases, to thin-air heights, without moving in lockstep with other asset classes.

The contemporary and post war segments have even outpaced the S&P 500 overall since 1995.*

Now, over 70,000 people have invested $1.2 billion+ across 500 iconic artworks featuring Banksy, Basquiat, Picasso, and more.

How? You don’t need Medici money to invest in multimillion dollar artworks with Masterworks.

Thousands of members have gotten annualized net returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8% from 26 sales to date.

Explore offerings

_{*Based on Masterworks data. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures:}_{masterworks.com/cd}

📶TELECOMS

Airtel Restores RCS Messaging With Google

Bharti Airtel has reinstated Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging in partnership with Google after months of suspension, following the introduction of stronger spam controls and a clearer revenue model for operators. The restored service brings advanced messaging features such as read receipts, media sharing, and group chats, while addressing earlier concerns around fraud, regulation, and lost SMS revenue. With AI-powered spam detection and enterprise oversight now in place, Airtel’s move signals renewed confidence in RCS as a secure, commercially viable messaging channel that can complement traditional SMS and OTT platforms like WhatsApp in India’s evolving digital communications landscape..........….continue reading

🌐INTERNET

Google to End Dark Web Monitoring in 2026

Google will shut down its Dark Web Report feature by February 2026, ending a service that alerted users when their personal information appeared in known dark web data breaches. The company will stop scanning for new breaches on January 15, 2026, and permanently delete all monitoring data a month later. Google says the decision reflects a shift away from reactive alerts toward preventative security tools such as passkeys, two-step verification, and account security checks, which it believes offer more practical protection. While the move removes a visibility tool many users relied on, Google maintains it will continue strengthening internal threat detection as part of a broader industry trend toward breach prevention rather than post-exposure notification..............…continue reading

📲SOCIAL MEDIA

WhatsApp Introduces Ads—Chats Remain Private

WhatsApp has begun showing ads in its Status and Channels sections, marking its first move toward monetization under Meta. The company says personal and group chats will remain end-to-end encrypted and completely ad-free. Ads are targeted using limited, non-personal data such as location, language, and activity within the Updates tab, ensuring private conversations are not used for advertising...............…continue reading