MTN has 5 million fintech users in Nigeria. It wants 30 million.
That opportunity is most pronounced in Nigeria, where the telecom giant has five million fintech customers but sees a path to as many as 30 million over the medium term.
MTN, Africa's leading telecommunications company, currently holds five million fintech users in Nigeria, with ambitions to expand that number to 30 million over the medium term. To achieve this goal, the company is partnering with technology giants such as Alibaba, Alipay, and Ant International Group. Group CEO Ralph Mupita highlighted Nigeria as a key market for the fintech expansion, stating that converting more Nigerian telecom customers into fintech users could lead to a 30% or even 50% increase in the customer base.
In the six months leading up to June, MTN's fintech transaction volumes grew by 17.2% to 13 billion, with transaction values rising 33.8% to $330.5 billion. However, the gap between its telecom and fintech customer bases presents a challenge, as merely having millions of mobile users does not guarantee their adoption of financial services.
Mupita emphasized that MTN is venturing beyond payments into lending, leveraging its own balance sheet instead of relying solely on commercial partner banks. This move, while introducing credit risk, represents a major evolution in MTN's financial services strategy and signifies a significant opportunity in the rapidly growing fintech sector in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Written by urgent.news from TechCabal's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
