MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecommunications operator, is considering obtaining banking licences in selected African markets as it explores ways to use its own balance sheet to support the expansion of its lending business.

The telecommunications giant already operates one of Africa’s largest mobile money platforms, giving it access to millions of customers who regularly transfer and manage funds through digital wallets.

Ralph Mupita, Group Chief Executive Officer of MTN Group, said the company was examining whether banking licences would enable it to accept deposits and, over time, use those funds to lend directly to customers.

“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.

MTN’s Mobile Money (MoMo) platform has more than 70 million customers spread across 16 markets.

Those customers carried out more than 23 billion transactions worth over $500 billion, giving the group a significant financial services ecosystem across its African operations.

The company has also moved beyond payments and money transfers, with lending becoming one of the fastest-growing segments of its financial services business.

Through MTN’s BankTech operations, loans facilitated in 2025 reached $3.5 billion, representing growth of more than 80 per cent compared with the previous year.

Ghana and Uganda were among the key markets behind that expansion. MTN has also broadened its lending products in Rwanda, Zambia, Cameroon and Congo-Brazzaville.

In Uganda, its credit portfolio includes MoKash, MoPesa, MoSente, XtraCash and MoMo Advance.

Despite the expansion, MTN’s lending operations have largely relied on partnerships with banks and other financial institutions. Under the current model, those financial institutions provide a substantial portion of the funding, while MTN supplies its extensive customer base, distribution network and mobile wallet infrastructure.

The consideration of banking licences could give MTN greater control over the funding of its lending operations in markets where the potential opportunity is considered sufficiently large.

Such a model could eventually allow the telecommunications group to accept deposits and issue loans from its own balance sheet, potentially reducing its dependence on third-party funding while retaining some of its existing partnerships.

“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,” Mupita said.

MTN stressed that pursuing banking licences would not necessarily signal the end of its relationships with existing banking partners. Rather, the company is weighing an approach that could combine lending from its own balance sheet with products delivered through partnerships.

The potential move forms part of MTN’s wider effort to expand beyond traditional telecommunications and deepen its presence in digital financial services by leveraging its large customer base and established mobile money infrastructure across Africa.

If implemented, the banking strategy could further strengthen MTN’s position in Africa’s financial services sector while giving the company greater flexibility to expand digital credit offerings to its customers.

Source: MSME Africa Online