Mastercard and MTN Group Fintech have teamed up in a multi-market alliance to drive mobile payments across select Africa markets including Nigeria.
Under the pact, Mastercard and MTN are offering millions of individuals and small businesses in Africa access to secure and convenient digital financial services across 13 markets in Africa.
The crux of this partnership, the two companies said, is the introduction of a virtual and physical Mastercard companion card for MTN’s MoMo (Mobile Money) customers.
“With MTN’s overall subscriber base at 290 million and 60 million active monthly MoMo (Mobile Money) wallets, the agreement will impact 13 markets in Africa including Benin, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Eswatini, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Republic of Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia,” according to the statemnt accouncing the alliance.
The virtual card will grant its users access to over 100 million acceptance locations globally, thereby enabling MTN “scale up internationally.” Mastercard will also provide cybersecurity solutions to MTN’s operations in order to increase customer loyalty and trust.
MoMo merchants will also accept card payments that facilitate instant cross-border money remittance services and foster financial inclusion and prosperity for businesses and consumers alike.
“With MTN’s overall subscriber base at 290 million and 60 million active monthly MoMo (Mobile Money) wallets, the agreement will impact 13 markets in Africa including Benin, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Eswatini, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Republic of Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia,” according to the statemnt accouncing the alliance.
Amnah Ajmal, Executive Vice President of Market Development EEMEA at Mastercard said that the partnership with MTN will enable digital commerce for millions of people in Africa.
“In addition,” Ajmal said, “mobile money solutions can be greatly beneficial for SMEs, enabling growth through seamless commercial operations, wider payments acceptance, access to affordable credit, and secure digital tools.”
According to Serigne Dioum, Group CEO of MTN Fintech, “when there is a mutual vision – in this case to bring access, progress, financial inclusion, and prosperity to people – the road to partnership is a simple one. We look forward to working with Mastercard as a partner that is also committed to the enablement of more people and businesses through the collaboration into best-in-class apps, superior user experiences, safe transactions, secure remittances, new use cases, and expanded acceptance.”
According to the companies, the key features of the partnership include:
1. Global Access for MoMo Wallet Users: Every MoMo wallet will be equipped with a virtual and physical Mastercard companion card, providing users access to over 100 million acceptance locations worldwide.
2. Empowering SMEs with Payment Solutions: SMEs will gain access to Mastercard’s SME-in-a-Box, a low-cost payments solution enabling them to move their businesses online and accept various digital payments from their customers.
3. Expanded Reach for Remittance Solutions: Consumers will benefit from expanded reach for mobile money remittance services, facilitating both inward and cross-border transactions within Africa. “The demand for international remittance services is growing with more than US$2 billion in daily processed transactions, equivalent to more than 40% of the GDP of Sub-Saharan Africa. International remittances via mobile-money wallets grew by 65% year over year in 2020 to around US$1 billion, with no signs of slowing.”
Mastercard said its pledge to bring one billion people and 50 million SMEs into the global digital economy by 2025 is exemplified in its partnership with MTN.
