By David Akinmola
The growing appetite for digital credit across Africa is pushing MTN Group beyond its traditional telecommunications business, with the telecom giant now exploring banking licences in selected markets to deepen lending and eventually deploy its own balance sheet to finance customers.
The move signals a major shift in the group’s fintech strategy as lending emerges as what MTN describes as its next major growth opportunity, potentially bringing the telecommunications company into more direct competition with banks and digital financial services providers across its markets. (Reuters)
Group Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Mupita, disclosed the plan on Tuesday while speaking with journalists in Johannesburg, South Africa, saying the company was assessing markets with large customer bases and significant balances in mobile-money wallets where a banking licence could make commercial sense.
“We’re beginning to explore, where it makes sense and where there are large customer bases and significant floats in wallets, whether it may make sense to have some sort of banking licence that enables us to take deposits,” Mupita said. (MarketScreener)
According to him, the proposed model would allow MTN to gradually move from its current partnership-based lending arrangement to lending from its own balance sheet, although partnerships with banks would continue.
The development is significant for Nigeria and other African markets where MTN has built large mobile-money ecosystems and millions of customers who already use its platforms for payments and other financial transactions.
MTN’s 2025 results showed the scale of the opportunity. Its MoMo platforms had 69.5 million users, while BankTech facilitated $3.6 billion in loan value, representing a 103.2 per cent increase. Total fintech transactions reached 23.3 billion, valued at $500.3 billion. (MTN Group)
Mupita said lending was increasingly becoming the strongest growth opportunity within the group’s advanced digital services.
“We’re seeing good growth on advanced services, which are our future-proof services,” he said, referring to payments, e-commerce and lending. “The big growth now, which will be the growth of the future, is actually lending.” (MyJoyOnline)
For Nigeria’s financial services industry, the strategy could intensify competition in retail lending, particularly as telecom operators increasingly use customer data, mobile wallets and digital platforms to deliver financial products.
MTN Nigeria already operates a payment service bank through MoMo, but the scope of its existing licence does not currently allow it to conduct all the activities associated with a conventional bank. The company has previously indicated that it was seeking to augment its Nigerian licence to expand services, including lending. (Business Day)
The latest announcement, however, is broader than Nigeria, with MTN Group evaluating opportunities selectively across its African markets rather than announcing an immediate rollout of banking operations in every country.
Mupita stressed that any transition to balance-sheet lending would be gradual because of the additional financial and regulatory risks involved.
“As such, we will then be lending over time off our own balance sheet. But also, it doesn’t mean we won’t do any partnership lending,” he said. (MarketScreener)
Industry observers say the proposed strategy reflects the changing boundaries between telecommunications, fintech and traditional banking, as large technology platforms increasingly compete for customers’ payments, savings and credit relationships.
For MTN, its principal advantage is the size of its existing customer base and the volume of transactions flowing through its digital ecosystem. Instead of building a financial services customer base from scratch, the group can potentially use existing relationships to distribute credit and other financial products.
However, moving from facilitating loans to carrying credit risk directly would also expose the group to greater regulatory, liquidity and asset-quality risks.
The shift would require stronger credit assessment systems, risk management, governance and regulatory capital, particularly if MTN begins accepting deposits and lending directly from its own balance sheet.
That is why Mupita’s emphasis on a selective and gradual approach is important. Markets with large customer bases and substantial wallet balances would likely receive priority, while partnership lending would remain part of the model.
The development also comes as MTN continues to separate its fintech operations from its core telecommunications business, positioning financial services as an independent growth platform capable of attracting investment and scaling across Africa.
Beyond lending, the group is also expanding its digital infrastructure ambitions. MTN plans to develop AI-enabled data centres in Nigeria and South Africa through Africa Data Hub Holding, a venture with an undisclosed UAE-backed investor. The initial phase is expected to target about 150 megawatts of capacity across the two markets. (TheCable)
The twin moves into financial services and digital infrastructure underline MTN’s broader strategy of reducing its dependence on traditional voice and data revenues while building businesses around Africa’s expanding digital economy.
For Nigeria’s banking and fintech industry, MTN’s growing ambitions could create both competitive pressure and opportunities for partnerships.
Banks currently provide much of the capital behind MTN’s lending products. A move towards balance-sheet lending could gradually alter that relationship, although the group has made clear that it does not intend to abandon partnership lending.
The bigger question is whether telecom-led financial services can convert enormous transaction volumes into sustainable credit businesses while maintaining consumer protection and financial stability.
For MTN, the answer could determine whether lending becomes merely another fintech service or the next major pillar of its pan-African growth strategy.
