NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, November 6, 2017

MTN Group Ltd. is seeking to challenge rival Vodacom Group Ltd. as Africa’s biggest digital bank by tripling its customer numbers within three years.

Already the continent’s biggest mobile-phone company by subscribers, Johannesburg-based MTN is adding about 500,000 active banking customers a month, Chief Executive Officer Rob Shuter, 50, said on Wednesday. About 20 million people use MTN’s mobile banking now, he said in an interview at Bloomberg’s office in the South African city.

MTN, Vodacom and other competitors are using more affordable and faster internet to offer banking to people in countries where traditional financial services are scarce. Mobile-money accounts allow users to deposit and withdraw funds via their phones and pay for everything from groceries to haircuts.

Photo courtesy of Simone McCourtie.