MTN challenges Vodacom as Africa’s biggest digital bank
MTN is seeking to challenge rival Vodacom as Africa’s biggest digital bank by tripling its customer numbers within three years. Already the continent’s biggest mobile-phone company by subscribers, MTN is adding about 500,000 active banking customers a month, CEO Rob Shuter said on Wednesday. About 20-million people use MTN’s mobile banking now, he said in an interview with Bloomberg. MTN, Vodacom and other competitors are using more affordable and faster internet to offer banking to people in countries where traditional financial services are scarce. Mobile-money accounts allow users to deposit and withdraw funds via their phones and pay for everything from groceries to haircuts. "We really are at that early adoption stage of mobile internet" in Africa, said Shuter, who joined MTN from Vodacom’s UK parent Vodafone in March. In many of these markets there isn’t the sufficient fixed line internet needed for mobile banking or even other banking options. Vodacom owns about 35% of Nairob...
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