Daily Brief: AI Regulation Heats Up, Africa's Fintech Rules Rewritten, Big Tech Under Fire
From Nigeria's landmark fintech blueprint to the EU's AI Act enforcement countdown and Amazon's $200B bet on AI infrastructure — here are the 20 stories shaping business, law, and tech this week.
## The Big Picture
A new regulatory era is taking shape across three continents. Nigeria is rewriting the rules for African fintech, the EU is racing to enforce its landmark AI Act before August, and Washington is caught between antitrust enforcement against Big Tech and a pro-innovation stance on AI. Meanwhile, capital is flowing again — both into African startups and into the AI infrastructure arms race that is reshaping global markets.
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Africa: Fintech Rules Rewritten, Funding Rebounds
1. Nigeria Unveils Landmark Fintech Blueprint
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released its *Policy Insight Series 2025*, marking a decisive shift from market-led expansion to structured regulation. The framework introduces a Single Regulatory Window, a standing fintech engagement forum, and a Compliance-as-a-Service utility — designed to lift the burden of duplicative reporting from smaller firms. The most ambitious element: bilateral licence-recognition pilots with Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa that could unify Africa's fragmented fintech market.
2. CBN's 2026 Rules Reshape Banking and Payments
New CBN regulations significantly alter how neobanks, payment service banks, and agency banking networks like Moniepoint, OPay, and PalmPay operate. Capital requirements and compliance thresholds are rising, potentially turning Nigeria's fintech growth engine into a cost centre for undercapitalized players.
3. Ghana Pushes Tech-Law Reforms for AI, Fintech, and Cybersecurity
At the TechLaw Conference 2026 in Accra, Ghana reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening legal and policy foundations for digital innovation. The focus: aligning technology growth with effective regulation across AI governance, fintech licensing, and cybersecurity standards.
4. African Startup Funding Leaps Nearly 50%
Total investment into African tech startups rose to $1.64 billion in 2025 — a nearly 50% year-over-year increase, signalling recovery from the global funding winter. The continent is entering a "utility-first" VC cycle in 2026, with capital targeting foundational rails: payments, mobility, energy, AI infrastructure, and B2B SaaS.
5. Kenya's Cold Solutions Raises $19M to Fight Food Waste
Cold Solutions Kiambu secured $19 million from Mirova's Gigaton Fund for a 15,000-pallet cold storage facility in Tatu City. The investment targets Africa's $48 billion annual food waste crisis — a sector increasingly seen as both a climate and commercial opportunity.
6. Egypt's NowPay Lands $20M for Earned-Wage Access
NowPay secured $20 million through a joint venture with Saudi Arabia's Tas'heel for NowAccess, targeting 13 million Saudi workers with earned-wage access. The deal underscores how African fintechs are exporting their models to the Gulf.
7. Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya Lead Digital Asset Growth
The Big Three are driving continental digital-asset adoption amid regulatory shifts. South Africa now has 248 approved crypto licences under FAIS, while Nigeria's evolving frameworks are attracting compliance-minded exchanges back into the market.
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Global Tech: AI Arms Race and Infrastructure Bets
8. Amazon Commits $200 Billion to AI Infrastructure
Amazon announced massive capital spending on AI infrastructure and satellite initiatives — the largest single-year investment commitment from a hyperscaler. The move signals that the AI infrastructure build-out is still accelerating, not plateauing.
9. OpenAI Launches Enterprise AI Agent Platform
OpenAI unveiled "Frontier," a new platform enabling enterprises to build and manage AI agents for business workflows across finance, insurance, life sciences, and mobility. The product marks OpenAI's deepest push into enterprise SaaS.
10. Intel and AMD Warn of Server CPU Shortages in China
Both chipmakers notified customers of extended wait times for server processors, with some deliveries delayed up to six months. The bottleneck: surging AI data centre demand is consuming global chip supply faster than capacity can expand.
11. Memory Chip Shortages Hit Smartphone Sales
A global memory chip scarcity is reducing demand for Qualcomm and Arm processors as device makers struggle to secure components. The shortage ripples from AI's appetite for high-bandwidth memory into consumer electronics.
12. Nvidia Delays RTX 50-Series Super Refresh
Nvidia postponed its consumer GPU refresh to prioritise AI hardware production and address memory constraints — a clear signal of where the company sees its growth priorities.
13. US Tightens and Loosens AI Chip Export Rules Simultaneously
The Bureau of Industry and Security revised export rules for advanced AI chips (NVIDIA H200 and AMD MI325X equivalents), moving from "presumption of denial" to "case-by-case review." The shift aims to balance national security with the commercial interests of US chipmakers.
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Law & Regulation: AI Act Countdown and Antitrust Escalation
14. EU AI Act Enforcement Countdown Begins
The EU's AI Act becomes fully enforceable in August 2026, though the European Commission is extending the high-risk AI compliance deadline to December 2027. Companies deploying AI in Europe face a narrowing window to audit systems, document risks, and build compliance infrastructure.
15. EU Targets TikTok's "Addictive Design" Under Digital Services Act
The European Commission accused TikTok of violating the DSA through features like infinite scroll and autoplay that encourage compulsive use. The case could set precedent for how regulators treat attention-harvesting design patterns across all social platforms.
16. Google Antitrust Remedies Take Shape
Alphabet is expected to implement court-mandated changes to its search business, including sharing its proprietary search index with competitors and terminating exclusivity deals. Both the U.S. government and state coalitions are appealing parts of the ruling, seeking even stronger remedies.
17. EU Opens Cloud Gatekeeper Probes Against Amazon and Microsoft
Cloud computing has emerged as the next antitrust enforcement frontier. Probes opened in late 2025 target how Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure may be leveraging their platform dominance to lock in customers.
18. Colorado AI Act Set for June 2026 Enforcement
With no federal AI law preempting state legislation, Colorado's AI Act (effective June 30, 2026) and California's Transparency in Frontier AI Act (effective since January 2026) will define the near-term US regulatory landscape. Companies face a patchwork of state-level obligations.
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Deals & Funding
19. Overland AI Raises $100M for Autonomous Military Vehicles
The funding round supports expansion of military-focused ground vehicle autonomy technology — one of the largest defence-tech raises in recent months, reflecting the Pentagon's accelerating investment in autonomous systems.
20. FinOpsly Raises $4.45M for Cloud Cost Automation
As enterprises grapple with unpredictable AI infrastructure costs, FinOpsly is building real-time governance controls for cloud spending. The raise highlights an emerging category: the financial management layer for AI deployments.
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What to Watch
- **Nigeria-Kenya fintech licence pilots** — if mutual recognition succeeds, it could become the template for pan-African financial integration.
- **EU AI Act August deadline** — expect a wave of compliance spending and AI audit tools in Q2-Q3 2026.
- **Google search remedies** — the scope of index-sharing could reshape search competition globally.
- **African VC in 2026** — capital efficiency and regulatory maturity are now the deciding factors, not growth-at-all-costs.
Sources
- [Disrupt Africa: Startup funding leaps nearly 50%](https://disruptafrica.com/2026/02/03/african-tech-startup-funding-leaps-by-almost-50-as-sector-begins-to-recover-from-global-funding-winter/)
- [The Star: Nigeria changes fintech rules for Africa](https://www.the-star.co.ke/business/markets/2026-02-05-how-nigeria-has-changed-the-rules-of-the-game-for-african-fintech)
- [Ghanamma: Ghana tech-law reforms](https://www.ghanamma.com/2026/02/04/ghana-pushes-tech-law-reforms-to-support-ai-fintech-and-cybersecurity-growth/)
- [TechAfrica News: Digital asset growth](https://techafricanews.com/2026/01/13/nigeria-south-africa-kenya-lead-continents-digital-asset-growth-amid-regulatory-shifts/)
- [Fintech Magazine Africa: CBN 2026 rules](https://fintechmagazine.africa/2025/12/18/cbns-2026-rules-set-to-reshape-nigerias-fintech-and-banking-landscape/)
- [Slaughter and May: AI update 2026](https://www.slaughterandmay.com/horizon-scanning/2026/digital/ai-update-for-2026/)
- [European Business Magazine: EU tech enforcement](https://europeanbusinessmagazine.com/european-news/eu-readies-tougher-tech-enforcement-in-2026-as-trump-warns-of-retaliation/)
- [Wilson Sonsini: AI regulatory preview 2026](https://www.wsgr.com/en/insights/2026-year-in-preview-ai-regulatory-developments-for-companies-to-watch-out-for.html)
- [TechStartups: Top tech news Feb 6 2026](https://techstartups.com/2026/02/06/top-tech-news-today-february-6-2026/)
- [Mayer Brown: AI chips policy](https://www.mayerbrown.com/en/insights/publications/2026/01/administration-policies-on-advanced-ai-chips-codified)
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