MTN Group is intensifying its expansion into financial services, seeking additional fintech licences that could enable the telecommunications giant to lend directly to customers across key African markets, including Nigeria.
The move signals MTN’s ambition to deepen its presence in the continent’s financial ecosystem, extending beyond payments and mobile money services into one of Africa’s most underserved sectors: credit.
From Payments to Lending
For years, MTN has built one of Africa’s largest digital financial networks through its Mobile Money (MoMo) business. The company currently facilitates access to loans through partnerships with financial institutions, helping more than one million users secure credit daily across its markets.
However, the telecom operator now aims to move beyond acting as an intermediary by securing regulatory approvals that would allow it to issue loans directly from its own balance sheet.
The strategy reflects a broader evolution in Africa’s fintech landscape, where companies with large customer bases and extensive transaction data are increasingly positioned to address longstanding gaps in financial inclusion.
A Massive Untapped Market
MTN’s interest in lending comes against the backdrop of limited access to formal credit across much of Africa.
According to the company, only about 4% to 5% of adults on the continent currently have access to formal lending products. Traditional banking institutions have struggled to serve millions of individuals and small businesses due to high operating costs, limited credit histories, and geographic constraints.
The opportunity is particularly significant in Nigeria, where nearly 80% of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) reportedly lack access to formal financing. The country’s MSME sector is estimated to face a funding gap of approximately $236 billion, creating a substantial market for alternative lenders.
By leveraging customer transaction data, mobile wallets, and merchant networks, MTN believes it can help bridge that financing gap while creating a new source of revenue beyond voice, data, and payments.
Leveraging Scale and Infrastructure
MTN enters the lending conversation with significant scale.
The telecom group serves more than 70 million active Mobile Money users across Africa and works with over two million merchants within its financial ecosystem. In 2025 alone, the company processed transaction volumes exceeding $500 billion through its digital financial services network.
These assets provide MTN with valuable insights into customer behaviour, spending patterns, and transaction histories—data that can support credit assessment and loan underwriting in markets where traditional credit scoring systems remain underdeveloped.
For many fintech companies, access to this kind of data has become a key competitive advantage in expanding financial services.
The Next Competitive Frontier
Telecommunications companies and banks have spent the past decade competing for dominance in digital payments across Africa. MTN’s latest move suggests that lending could become the next major battleground.
If the company secures the licences it is seeking, it would transition from facilitating loans through third-party institutions to becoming a lender in its own right.
Such a shift could reshape competition across Africa’s financial services sector, placing telecom operators in more direct competition with banks, microfinance institutions, and digital lenders.
As demand for accessible and affordable credit continues to grow, MTN is positioning itself to play a larger role in addressing one of the continent’s most persistent financial inclusion challenges.
