Africa’s largest telecoms company, MTN, plans to secure banking licenses across the continent, its CEO said, ramping up competition with financial institutions for a growing customer base.
MTN’s operations in more than a dozen African countries have grown from voice and data services to financial services, such as mobile money payments.
Ralph Mupita said lending will define the company’s next phase of growth, and that MTN will explore the feasibility of securing “some sort of banking licence that enables us to take deposits.” MTN’s long-term plan is to grow its lending “off our own balance sheet,” Mupita added.
African financial services regulators have been increasingly willing to allow fintechs and telecom companies to compete with traditional banks in the provision of direct lending services to consumers, thereby helping to pull more people into the formal economy. Nigeria, which contributes the most to MTN’s subscriber base and revenues, is a particularly competitive arena, with more than 400 licensed digital money lenders.