MTN and Vodacom are vying for control of Africa's digital financial services.
Given the continent's often low rate of formal banking, financial services have become a crucial income stream for both operators. They've aggressively expanded their fintech offerings as part of their ambitious five-year strategic plans, aiming for significant growth by 2025. Looking ahead to 2030, this focus on fintech is only set to intensify, with both companies planning for a larger share of their overall group revenue to come from these digital financial operations.
"Financial services are the primary engine driving our 'beyond mobile services' strategy," Vodacom highlighted in its annual report. "Our focus is on boosting and deepening financial inclusion for both consumers and merchants. As we achieve greater financial inclusion across our markets, we anticipate unlocking exciting new economic growth opportunities." They added, "One of the most promising avenues here is wealth management, with our recent launches of wealth products in Tanzania and Kenya opening up a fresh growth direction for our financial services division."
For the year, Vodacom's group fintech revenue hit R34 billion, powered by 87.7 million active fintech subscribers who completed 42.6 billion transactions. The total value of transactions processed during this period soared to an impressive US$450.8 billion (R7.8 trillion at the time of writing).
**Enter the 'Super Apps'**
Meanwhile, MTN's fintech operations generated R23.3 billion in revenue. This was driven by 63.1 million monthly active users conducting 15.3 billion transactions, with total transaction values for the year reaching $321.3 billion (R5.5 trillion).
Both Vodacom and MTN are leveraging consumer-facing mobile money applications to drive their fintech ambitions. Vodacom's strategy revolves around its "super apps" like VodaPay, Vodafone Cash, and M-Pesa, while MTN utilizes a single app known as MoMo.
While both operators have gained some traction with financial services in their home market of South Africa, the relatively high penetration of traditional banking has limited growth. In contrast, other African markets have seen phenomenal success.
For Vodacom, M-Pesa has been a game-changer in Kenya, where people and businesses widely use the platform for everyday purchases. M-Pesa's revenue jumped by 15.2% in FY2025, fueled by a 10.5% increase in active customers. Transaction volumes also saw a robust 27% growth, reaching 36 billion.
As mobile operators delve deeper into financial markets, the complexity of their service offerings naturally expands. This includes sophisticated financial products like cross-border remittances, insurance, and lending. In 2024, Vodacom even rolled out wealth management services in Kenya and Tanzania, with assets under management in Kenya alone hitting KSh10 billion (R1.3 billion).
"Advanced financial services, such as savings, loans, and merchant offerings, contributed over 40% of M-Pesa's revenue this year, aligning perfectly with our strategy to expand the ecosystem," Vodacom reported.
MTN's detailed fintech reporting didn't include specific revenue figures for all operations. However, Nigeria, which is MTN's largest market by both revenue and customers, saw its fintech revenue climb by 21.6%. Impressively, MTN Ghana's fintech division recorded one of the highest growth rates across the group at 48% revenue growth, likely starting from a smaller base than Nigeria.
In terms of advanced services, MTN has sharply focused on the remittances market, facilitating $4.4 billion in transfers between its various African markets in 2024. Furthermore, its bank-tech platform disbursed $1.7 billion in loans over the same period.
