Mastercard and MTN Group Join Forces to Revolutionize Mobile Money Services in Africa

Mastercard and MTN Group Fintech have united to unveil a prepaid virtual card within MTN's Mobile Money (MoMo) ecosystem.

This collaboration is poised to revolutionize Mobile Money services across 13 African markets, heralding a new era of financial inclusion and pioneering payment solutions.

As part of this landmark agreement, MTN MoMo users will gain access to a prepaid virtual card, enabling seamless point-of-sale payments directly from their MoMo wallets.

Merchants, too, stand to benefit, with the ability to accept card payments, thereby elevating the payment experience for both consumers and businesses.

An official announcement from MTN highlighted, "The prepaid virtual card tailored for MTN's MoMo customers will provide access to over 100 million acceptance points globally."

This development is expected to empower MoMo merchants, facilitating effortless card payment acceptance and reinforcing the platform's cross-border money remittance services.

Presently, MTN boasts 60 million active MoMo wallets among its 290 million subscribers, underscoring the substantial reach and potential impact of this collaboration.

The agreement spans subscribers in 13 African markets, encompassing Benin, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Eswatini, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Republic of Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia.

This strategic alliance follows Mastercard's recent investment of US$200 million, securing a minority stake in MTN Group Fintech.

The partnership aims to bolster various mobile money initiatives across Africa, with the overarching goal of integrating a significant portion of the continent's unbanked population—approximately 43% of 1.3 billion people—into the financial mainstream.

Source: Smart Megwai / Innovation Village