MTN Targets Nigeria's $236 Billion Credit Gap as Its $500 Billion MoMo Fintech Spinoff Advances

MTN Group is moving to turn its African mobile-money empire into something much bigger than a payments business, as the telecoms giant prepares to separate its fintech operations in Nigeria and Uganda, bring in strategic investors, and push into lending across some of the continent's most underbanked markets. MTN is finalising the separation of its Nigeria and Uganda fintech businesses to attract strategic investors.

The company is also pursuing licences that could allow it to lend directly to customers. Nigeria is central to the plan because of its huge population, cash-heavy economy and $236 billion MSME credit gap. The move intensifies competition with banks, fintech startups, Airtel Money, Mastercard-backed platforms and Chinese fintech infrastructure.

The Johannesburg-based company is finalising the structural separation of its Nigerian and Ugandan fintech units, a key step required to complete a minority investment deal with Mastercard and open the door to other strategic buyers. The move places MTN at the centre of one of Africa's biggest financial-services battles: who will control the next generation of payments, credit, remittances and merchant services on a continent where hundreds of millions of people still rely heavily on cash.

MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita told investors at the company's capital markets day that the process is delicate because the company wants to avoid losing value while carving fintech assets out of its telecoms structure. "The separations are complex as we have to minimise value leakage," Mupita said. He added that MTN is open to selling minority stakes of up to 30% in its fintech businesses, but said the company is not being pushed by an IPO timetable.

"Nigeria is central to MTN's fintech ambitions because it offers both the biggest opportunity and one of the toughest regulatory puzzles." With more than 200 million people, a large informal economy, high cash usage and millions of small businesses struggling to access credit, Nigeria is one of Africa's most attractive fintech markets. But MTN has not been able to move as quickly as some local fintech rivals because its current licence does not allow it to offer the full range of services it wants.

That gap has helped newer fintech players such as OPay and PalmPay gain ground in payments, transfers and agency banking. MTN is now trying to close that gap by applying for Payment Solution Service Provider and Payment Terminal Service Provider licences through MoMo PSB, its Nigerian fintech subsidiary. If approved, the licences would allow MTN to handle more payment processing, build merchant payment tools, deploy and manage POS terminals, and reduce its dependence on third-party processors.

The bigger shift is lending. MTN Group Fintech CEO Serigne Dioum said the company wants to move beyond helping customers access loans through partners. In markets where regulators allow it, MTN wants to lend directly and use its own balance sheet. "Where appropriate, we will seek licences that allow us not only to facilitate loans but also to lend directly to customers and deploy our own balance sheet," Dioum said.

Across Africa, Dioum said only about 4% to 5% of adults have access to formal credit. In Nigeria, the funding problem is especially severe. A 2025 report by the National Credit Guarantee Company said nearly 80% of Nigerian MSMEs lack access to formal credit, while Stears has estimated the country's MSME financing gap at about $236 billion. For MTN, it could become a new profit engine.

MTN's fintech business is already one of the largest digital finance platforms on the continent. In 2025, the company's fintech operations processed about $500.3 billion in transaction value across its markets. Transaction volumes rose to 23.3 billion, while MoMo monthly active users reached 69.5 million. The group said its fintech revenue grew strongly, supported by higher use of payments, remittances, merchant services and other advanced financial products.