MTN Group is considering banking licences in selected African markets so it can take deposits and lend from its own balance sheet.
The telecoms group says lending is emerging as the next major growth engine within its fintech business.
The shift could widen credit access, but it also brings capital, consumer-protection and credit-risk responsibilities traditionally carried by banks.
Telecoms Giant Tests Banking Ambition
MTN Group is exploring banking licences in selected African markets as it prepares to make lending a larger part of its fintech strategy, potentially moving from a bank-partnership model toward loans funded gradually from its own balance sheet.
Chief Executive Ralph Mupita said the group is assessing markets with large customer bases and significant funds held in mobile-money wallets.
The aim would be to secure licences that permit deposit-taking and support a more direct lending model, without abandoning existing bank partnerships.
“The big growth now, which will be the growth of the future, is actually lending,” Mupita said.
He stressed that any move would be selective and gradual because lending exposes institutions to default, liquidity and conduct risks.
Mobile Money Builds Financial Infrastructure
MTN’s interest follows years of building payments, mobile wallets and digital-commerce services across Africa.
- The group has also been separating fintech operations into more focused businesses.
- It completed a structural separation in Ghana.
- MTN Nigeria announced a proposed sale of a 60% stake in MoMo Payment Service Bank and Y’ello Digital Financial Services to MTN Group for N152.06 billion.
The commercial logic is clear.
- MTN already holds transaction data, distribution reach and frequent customer relationships.
- Its fintech operations were reported to generate about N43 billion in quarterly revenue in late 2025, while group service revenue rose nearly 25% to R218 billion for that year.
However, payments scale does not automatically confer lending discipline.
- Credit requires sound underwriting, fair pricing, effective collections, capital buffers and transparent treatment of customer data.
Credit Access Can Support Enterprise
For African households and small businesses, responsible digital lending can bridge short cash-flow gaps, finance inventory and help enterprises build a verifiable credit history.
MTN’s distribution network could reach customers underserved by branch-based banking.
The gains will depend on product design.
- Short-term digital loans can become harmful when fees are opaque, repayment periods are unrealistic or automated collections disregard hardship.
- Using communications and wallet data also raises questions about privacy, discrimination and whether customers understand how decisions are made.
Banking licences would therefore represent more than a growth permission.
- They would place MTN within stronger expectations for governance, capital adequacy, liquidity, anti-money-laundering controls and customer protection.
Growth Must Follow Responsible Finance
Regulators should assess each market separately and resist pressures to treat a continental telecoms footprint as a single risk profile.
- They should require transparent annual percentage costs, affordability checks, data-use consent and independent monitoring of approval and default patterns.
MTN should preserve bank partnerships where they improve underwriting and risk sharing, while demonstrating that any balance-sheet lending is adequately capitalised.
Success should be measured not only by loan volume, but by repayment sustainability, productive use, repeat-customer health and formalisation of underserved businesses.
Path Forward – Responsible Credit Can Deepen Inclusion Sustainably
MTN’s next growth chapter can broaden African access to useful credit if licences, capital and customer safeguards develop together.
Selectivity should remain a governing principle, not merely a launch message.
Regulators and the company must publish evidence on pricing, portfolio quality, data governance and inclusion so lending growth strengthens financial resilience instead of shifting risk onto vulnerable customers.
Culled from: MTN Group eyes banking licences as lending becomes its next big bet - Nairametrics
