MTN Eyes Banking Licences as Africa’s Telecom Giant Pushes Deeper Into Lending
ONYINYECHI NWAIGBA 
For years, the line between telecommunications and financial services has been getting thinner across Africa.
A mobile phone is no longer simply a device for making calls or accessing the internet. For millions of people, it has also become a wallet, a payment terminal and, increasingly, a gateway to credit.
MTN Group is now considering taking that evolution a step further.
Africa’s largest telecommunications operator is exploring banking licenses in selected African markets as it looks to expand its lending business and, over time, potentially provide loans from its own balance sheet.
MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita disclosed the plan while speaking to journalists in Johannesburg. He said the company is assessing markets where it has large customer bases and significant funds held in mobile-money wallets.
The move would represent a significant shift in how MTN approaches financial services.
The company already offers lending through partnerships with banks and other financial institutions. A banking license could eventually give it the ability to take deposits and use its own balance sheet to finance some loans, although Mupita stressed that partnerships would continue and that the strategy would be selective and gradual.
For MTN, this is a business expansion.
For Africa, however, it raises a much bigger question:
What happens when the companies connecting people to the digital economy also become major players in financing it?
From mobile money to a wider financial ecosystem
MTN has already built a substantial financial-services ecosystem around its Mobile Money platform.
At the end of 2025, the group had about 70 million Mobile Money customers across 16 markets, with more than 23 billion transactions worth over US$500 billion during the year. Its BankTech business facilitated about US$3.5 billion in loans, an 80.4% year-on-year increase.
The growth has continued into 2026.
MTN reported that its BankTech business facilitated US$1.23 billion in loan value during the first quarter of 2026, representing a 70.84% year-on-year increase.
The numbers help explain why lending has become increasingly important to the company.
Payments are only one part of the financial journey.
Once customers are using a digital wallet to receive money, pay bills, transfer funds or make purchases, the same ecosystem can potentially support savings, insurance, investment and credit.
MTN has been deliberately building in that direction.
Its fintech platform currently includes payments, e-commerce, remittances, lending and insurance services, while the company has said its broader ambition is to develop digital financial services that support greater economic participation.
The proposed banking licenses could therefore be seen as the next stage of an expansion that is already underway.
Why access to credit matters
The strongest argument for this expansion is financial inclusion.
Across Africa, millions of people remain underserved by traditional financial institutions.
Some live far from bank branches.
Some have irregular incomes.
Some lack conventional credit histories.
Others may simply find traditional banking products too expensive, complicated or inaccessible.
Mobile financial services have already helped change that equation by bringing basic financial services closer to people through devices they already use.
MTN’s own experience in Côte d’Ivoire illustrates the potential.
Its MoMoKash service was developed to provide short-term digital credit to customers who historically had limited access to formal financial services. MTN says the service helped previously excluded users access credit and build digital credit histories, using alternative credit-scoring models and affordability controls.
If a customer can establish a financial history through regular digital transactions, there may be opportunities to assess creditworthiness differently from the traditional banking model.
That could be significant for people who have historically been left outside formal credit systems.
But access is only one part of the conversation.
More credit does not automatically mean more inclusion
There is a danger in treating financial inclusion as simply getting more people to borrow money.
Credit can help people manage emergencies, invest in productive activities or smooth irregular income.
But poorly designed credit can also create financial stress.
This becomes particularly important when lending is delivered digitally and at speed.
A customer may be able to access a loan within minutes.
But can that customer clearly understand the interest, fees, repayment schedule and consequences of default?
Can the lending system accurately assess affordability?
Are customers protected from being offered credit they cannot realistically repay?
These questions become even more important as large technology platforms move deeper into financial services.
MTN itself has acknowledged that moving towards lending from its own balance sheet would expose the group to additional risks, which is one reason Mupita said the approach would be gradual.
That caution is important.
The objective should not simply be to make credit more available.
It should be to make responsible credit more accessible.
The data question cannot be ignored
MTN has something traditional lenders may not always have at the same scale: a vast digital customer ecosystem.
Customers interact with mobile networks and mobile-money platforms constantly.
Their transactions can provide insights into how money moves, how frequently services are used and, potentially, how customers manage their finances.
That information can help build alternative credit models.
But it also raises questions about privacy, consent and responsible use of data.
When a telecommunications company becomes a lender, the relationship with the customer becomes more complex.
The company may know how a customer communicates, how they use digital services and how they transact financially.
The ability to use data to improve financial access must therefore be balanced with strong safeguards around how that data is collected, analysed, shared and used.
Financial inclusion cannot come at the expense of digital rights.
Regulation will become even more important
MTN is not proposing to turn every market in its African footprint into a banking operation.
The company says it will assess markets based on factors including customer scale and the amount of money held in mobile wallets.
That selective approach makes sense from a commercial perspective.
But from a regulatory standpoint, each market will have to answer difficult questions about what happens when a telecom company becomes a deposit-taking institution or direct lender.
Banking licenses come with responsibilities.
There are requirements around capital, risk management, consumer protection, reporting, liquidity and oversight.
Regulators will need to ensure that innovation does not move faster than the safeguards designed to protect customers and the wider financial system.
This is particularly important because telecom companies can reach customers at a scale that traditional financial institutions may struggle to match.
The greater the reach, the greater the responsibility.
Competition could change too
MTN’s potential entry into banking also signals how dramatically Africa’s financial-services landscape is changing.
Traditional banks are no longer competing only with other banks.
They are increasingly operating alongside telecom companies, fintechs, payment platforms and technology businesses that can reach customers through digital channels.
That competition can be positive.
It can encourage innovation, improve customer experience and push financial institutions to develop products that better reflect how people actually live and transact.
But competition should also remain fair.
The advantage of a telecommunications company entering finance is its existing distribution network and enormous customer base.
That creates opportunities, but it also raises questions about market power, interoperability and whether customers will have meaningful choices.
MTN’s ambitions go beyond banking
The banking discussion is part of a much broader transformation at MTN.
The company has been moving beyond its traditional telecommunications identity towards what it describes as a broader digital-platform strategy.
In June, MTN Group Fintech announced a partnership with Ant International to transform its MoMo ecosystem, including plans for a super-app platform expected to launch in Nigeria, with features spanning financial services, digital commerce and lifestyle services.
MTN is also investing in digital infrastructure, including plans for AI-enabled data centres in Nigeria and South Africa through Africa Data Hub Holding.
Taken together, these moves point to a company positioning itself not simply as a network provider, but as part of the infrastructure through which Africans communicate, transact and increasingly participate in the digital economy.
The real test will be impact
MTN’s potential move into banking is therefore bigger than another license application.
It reflects a broader shift in Africa’s financial landscape.
The mobile phone is becoming a gateway to more aspects of economic life, and companies with enormous digital ecosystems are increasingly positioned to provide services once dominated by traditional financial institutions.
That could create genuine opportunities.
More people could gain access to formal financial services.
Digital credit could reach customers who have historically been overlooked.
Competition could improve products and services.
And technology could make financial services more accessible.
But the success of this transition should not be measured only by the number of new accounts, loans or transactions generated.
It should also be measured by whether customers understand the products they use, whether credit remains affordable, whether personal data is protected and whether people are genuinely becoming more financially secure.
Financial inclusion is not simply about putting a bank in someone’s phone.
It is about giving people access to financial tools they can use safely, affordably and meaningfully.
MTN already has the reach.
Its next challenge is proving that greater financial reach can translate into greater financial wellbeing.
And as telecoms and financial services continue to converge across Africa, that may be one of the most important questions regulators, companies and customers will have to answer.
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