Africa’s largest telecom operator, MTN Group, led by one of the continent’s top executives Ralph Mupita, is weighing plans to secure full banking licences across select African markets, a shift that would pit the continent’s biggest wireless carrier directly against commercial lenders.

MTN shifts beyond bank-funded mobile loans

The telecom giant already runs payments, cash transfers, and basic savings products through its flagship Mobile Money, or MoMo, platform. Until now, MTN has relied on commercial banks to fund the loans it distributes to phone users. That middleman model may soon end.

Group CEO Mupita said MTN is evaluating licences that would allow it to accept deposits and back loans with its own capital. Rather than applying everywhere, MTN plans to target countries where its mobile-money operations already handle substantial daily transaction volumes.

Expanding credit for underbanked African consumers

The shift builds on plans outlined earlier this year to roll out direct lending in primary markets, led by Nigeria. “We have expanded access to credit for more people, but we also want to move further up the lending value chain,” Serigne Dioum, CEO of MTN Group Fintech, said at the company’s capital markets day. “Where appropriate, we will seek licenses that allow us not only to facilitate loans but also to lend directly to customers and deploy our own balance sheet.”

For MTN, the push tackles a persistent financing squeeze across the continent. Commercial lenders have long steered clear of everyday consumers and small shops due to strict collateral demands and thin credit histories. The gap is especially wide in Nigeria.

A 2025 report by the National Credit Guarantee Company found that nearly 80 percent of the country’s small businesses cannot secure formal bank loans. Research firm Stears estimates that shortfall at $236 billion. Across the continent, Dioum noted, just 4 to 5 percent of adults have access to formal loans.

MTN eyes direct payment processing rails

MTN’s financial-services arm is already underwriting that demand. The fintech unit brought in roughly $2.8 billion in revenue in 2025, handling more than $500 billion across 23 billion transactions. The network now counts over 70 million active MoMo accounts, 2 million merchants, and 1.4 million registered cash-in agents.

To support that scale in its biggest market, MTN Nigeria applied in late 2024 for payment terminal and solution provider permits through its subsidiary, MoMo PSB. Mupita said regulatory talks remain underway. Securing those approvals would let MTN handle card payments and merchant checkouts directly, cutting out middlemen to lower the cost of every transaction.