Electronic payments outstripped cash for the first time on Sunday, while the total value of automated credit transactions dwarfed cash by a factor of 250:1 in 2014.

Vodafone M-Pesa has launched a cross-border transfer service between East Africa’s two biggest economies to help funnel the remittances sent by roughly 300,000 Kenyans living in Tanzania.

Alternative finance provider AMP Credit Technologies announced its UK launch yesterday, which will help British banks lend money to small and micro-businesses.

Bitcoin has been heralded as a fee-free alternative to the cash-based remittance market that could help the world’s low paid overseas workers to send money home. Its volatility, though, could shut them out.

The European Parliament voted to cap the fees retailers pay to process debit and credit card transactions on Tuesday, a move which EU officials say will result in lower costs for card users.