Africa’s largest telecommunications operator, MTN Group, is considering obtaining banking licences in selected African markets as it seeks to expand its lending business and use its own balance sheet to provide credit.
The group’s Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Mupita, disclosed this on Tuesday August 25 while speaking with journalists, saying the company was assessing markets where it has large customer bases and significant funds held in mobile money wallets.
MTN currently provides loans to customers through partnerships with banks. However, Mupita said the group was exploring the possibility of securing banking licences that would allow it to take deposits and gradually lend from its own balance sheet.
“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,” he said.
According to Mupita, the strategy would be implemented selectively across MTN’s markets and would not replace its existing partnerships with banks. He added that any move towards balance-sheet lending would be gradual because of the risks involved.
He described lending as the biggest growth opportunity in MTN’s expanding fintech business.
“The big growth now, which will be the growth of the future, is actually lending,” Mupita said.
The move comes as MTN continues to reposition its fintech operations as a major growth engine beyond its traditional telecommunications business.
In 2025, the group announced plans to separate its fintech operations in Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda to create more focused and scalable financial services businesses.
It subsequently completed the structural separation of its mobile money business in Ghana, establishing it as a standalone fintech entity in April 2026.
In Nigeria, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc announced in April 2026 that it would sell a 60 per cent stake in its fintech subsidiaries, MoMo Payment Service Bank and Y’ello Digital Financial Services, to MTN Group in a transaction valued at N152.06 billion.
MTN’s fintech business has also become a significant contributor to the group’s revenue, with the operations reportedly generating about N43 billion in quarterly revenue in 2025.
The group’s broader financial performance has remained strong. MTN Group reported a nearly 25 per cent increase in service revenue to R218 billion for the 2025 financial year, with its Nigerian and Ghanaian operations among the major contributors.
In Nigeria, MTN Nigeria recorded N1.09 trillion in profit before tax in the first half of 2026, representing a 75.4 per cent increase from the same period in 2025. Revenue also rose by 25.9 per cent to N2.99 trillion during the period.
Meanwhile, MTN is pursuing further expansion of its infrastructure business in Nigeria. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has granted conditional approval for its proposed $6.2 billion acquisition of IHS Holding Limited, bringing the transaction closer to completion.
