MTN moves to secure banking licence, build AI data centre

By Abubakar Yunusa

MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecommunications operator, said it is exploring banking licences in some of its markets as it considers using its own balance sheet to expand lending.

Ralph Mupita, group chief executive officer of MTN, announced yesterday while speaking with journalists.

Mupita said the proposed move would allow the company to take deposits and eventually provide loans directly to customers in markets where it has a large customer base and significant funds held in mobile money wallets.

“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.

Although MTN currently offers loans to customers through partnerships with banks and other financial institutions, Mupita said the company is considering a gradual shift towards balance-sheet lending in selected markets while retaining its existing partnerships.

He said the plan would not be implemented across all of MTN’s markets, adding that the company would assess the opportunity based on the size of its customer base and mobile money deposits in each market.

According to the CEO, lending has become one of the fastest-growing segments of MTN’s fintech business, alongside payments and e-commerce.

“The big growth now, which will be the growth of the future, is actually lending,” Mupita said.

He said moving towards balance-sheet lending would expose the group to additional risks, making a gradual approach necessary.

Mupita said the expansion into lending is part of MTN’s broader strategy to grow its financial technology business and reduce its reliance on traditional telecommunications revenue.

The group CEO also said the company plans to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled data centres in South Africa and Nigeria through Africa Data Hub Holding, a venture with an undisclosed United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed investor to develop AI-ready data centre infrastructure across key African markets.

He said MTN would be a minority investor in the venture, while its partner, which has experience building data centres in the UAE and other Gulf countries, would provide most of the capital and technical expertise.

Mupita added that the initial phase is expected to target about 150 megawatts of capacity across South Africa and Nigeria, with future expansion to be driven by demand.