Mobile Finance

Another initiative relevant to MEA mobile finance has been launched. This time global digital payments and commerce platform PayPal has announced a strategic partnership with TerraPay, a global money movement company, to enable real-time fund transfers for PayPal customers across the Middle East and Africa (MEA).

Globe Telecom has moved forward with its acquisition of a 50% stake in AB Capital Securities Inc (ABCSI), aiming to strengthen the stock brokerage capabilities of its fintech unit, Mynt, which operates the widely used GCash mobile wallet.

Vodacom Lesotho has expanded its M-Pesa mobile money service to all users in the country, regardless of which mobile network they subscribe to, in a bid to increase financial inclusion.

Ethio Telecom has announced a meeting with financial giant Mastercard to explore how the two companies can leverage technology to upgrade digital financial services.

Safaricom M-Pesa announced on Monday it is partnering with Ethiopian fintech startup LakiPay Financial Technologies to enhance digital payment services in Ethiopia.

Malaysian telco CelcomDigi announced on Wednesday it has formed an inter-industry partnership with Payments Network Malaysia (a.k.a. PayNet) to strengthen digital security in financial transactions using CelcomDigi’s open network APIs under the GSMA Open Gateway initiative.

Vietnamese telco VNPT announced on Sunday that its digital services unit, VNPT-Media, has signed a partnership deal with Visa to develop advanced digital payment solutions and boost financial inclusion for consumers and SMBs in Vietnam.

The mobile payment group Safaricom M-Pesa, along with another, unnamed financial service provider, has signed a service level agreement (SLA) with the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia to transform healthcare payments through a secure, efficient and scalable digital payment system.

Uganda has been making headlines in the digital commerce world recently thanks to news involving two of its leading operators, Airtel and MTN, and leading payment enablers Network International and Mastercard.

Whale Cloud, a leading technology company providing software solutions and services for telecommunications and multiple industries, and Alipay+, Ant International’s unified wallet gateway service powered by its cross-border mobile payment and digitisation technology, have extended their partnership at MWC 2025.

MTN Group Fintech, described as Africa’s leading mobile financial services provider, has appointed Network International, an enabler of digital commerce across the Middle East and Africa (MEA), as its partner for Payment Processor – Issuing.

M-Pesa Safaricom said on Thursday it is partnering with Dashen Bank and CashGo to launch a new international remittance service in Ethiopia that enables users to receive money from abroad directly into their M-Pesa mobile wallets.

Chinese handset maker Oppo has reportedly apologised to customers in Thailand after admitting to the telecoms regulator that its devices came with pre-installed loan apps that had not been approved by the Bank of Thailand (BOT).

Financial services platform Mukuru says it has launched a mobile wallet in Zimbabwe called Mukuru Wallet. This follows Mukuru’s award of a Deposit-Taking Microfinance Institution (DTMFI) licence in the country by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has enabled prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) to make unified payments interface (UPI) transactions via third-party mobile applications, a concept that may sound arcane on first glance, but one that could speed up the money transfer process in India.

While it’s been a holiday season in many parts of the world, it’s been a busy week for Safaricom Ethiopia – at least in terms of significant announcements involving M-Pesa services and coverage growth.

PalmPay, the Africa-focused fintech operating Nigeria’s most used mobile wallet, and Jumia, Africa’s e-commerce giant, have announced a strategic partnership to enhance the digital payment ecosystem on the continent, starting with payment integrations and co-marketing efforts in Nigeria.

Smart Communications, the mobile arm of Philippine telco PLDT, is reportedly making moves to relaunch its original mobile money app, Smart Money, in an apparent bid to directly take on rival telco Globe Telecom’s GCash.

Two notable fintech deals have recently been announced in the United Arab Emirates. The latest involves payments services company Worldline, which has partnered with Telr, a Dubai-based payment gateway aggregator and provider, to launch an e-commerce payments solution for the rapidly expanding UAE market.

M-Pesa Africa – the mobile money JV between Safaricom and Vodacom Group – says that it’s expanding its partnership with global payment infrastructure provider Thunes to enable users in Kenya and Tanzania to use their M-Pesa wallet to make payments when traveling to China.

MTN Rwanda's fintech arm, Mobile Money Rwanda (MoMo Rwanda), has partnered with payment giant Mastercard to launch a new virtual payment solution in Rwanda.

Madagascar’s three mobile money operators – MVola, Orange Money and Airtel Money – have denounced plans by the government’s Directorate General for Taxes (DGI) to tax mobile money transactions, which they say will discourage financial inclusion and harm the economy.

Mobile money services MTN MoMo in South Africa and EcoCash in Zimbabwe have partnered to provide what are described as effortless direct cash transfers between the two countries.

Globe Telecom president and CEO Ernest Cu said on Monday that unauthorized transactions that affected some GCash wallet users in the Philippines over the weekend were the result of a glitch, and that no funds were lost.

Visa says it is collaborating with QR payment providers across the Asia-Pacific region to kick off a scheme that would enable digital wallet users in the region to make QR payments at merchants when traveling abroad.

Global payment infrastructure provider Thunes said on Tuesday it has expanded its collaboration with Philippine mobile payments platform GCash to enables users to top up their wallet balances directly within the app using funds from UK and European bank accounts.

Mastercard announced on Tuesday it has launched Mastercard Pay Local, a new global service that enables digital wallet users in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Africa to pay locally when they travel.

Brazil-based digital bank platform Nubank announced plans on Tuesday to join Brazil's increasingly crowded mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) space in a bid to expand its portfolio beyond financial services.

Hormuud Telecom strengthened its EVC Plus mobile money platform by making it interoperable with MyBank and Agro Bank, with plans to onboard more banks in 2025.

Kenyan and Ethiopian service provider Safaricom has extended its M-Pesa Global service – which enables M-Pesa registered customers to send and receive money globally – to Ethiopia, allowing customers to make mobile money transactions from Kenya to Ethiopia.

Leading financial services platform Mukuru has announced the launch of its new mobile wallet in Malawi, the Mukuru Wallet, which, Mukuru says, is designed to address the growing demand for a convenient, secure, efficient way to manage funds and make money transfers.

MTC Namibia launched its mobile financial service, MTC Maris, as the Namibian government hailed the operator for “stepping ahead” of its rivals, while urging them to follow suit in order to connect the fifth of the population that remains unbanked.