Cash still rules everyday spending in South Africa. That reality is now shaping MTN’s next big fintech push. As the country rebuilds its payments infrastructure and opens up to more competition, MTN sees a real chance to change how South Africans pay.
The telecom giant wants MoMo to grow beyond simple transfers and airtime top-ups. MTN Group Fintech CEO Serigne Dioum says the company is turning MoMo into a full financial platform. The goal is to link consumers and merchants to payments, credit, remittances, and other digital services across Africa.
South Africa, however, presents a different kind of test. Unlike Uganda or Rwanda, where mobile money thrived partly because so many people lacked bank accounts, South Africa already has a mature banking sector. So MTN is not trying to beat banks at basic transactions. Instead, the company wants to use the country’s evolving payments infrastructure to build a broader platform for everyday consumers and small merchants who still lean on cash.
Speaking at MTN’s Fintech Summit in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Dioum said the national payments infrastructure is moving fast. As a result, MTN plans to use that momentum to expand its reach. The strategy includes tapping new payment rails, applying for licences as they open up, and pushing further into lending and other financial products.
But South Africa is just one piece of a much bigger picture. MTN says MoMo now serves over 70 million monthly active users across 14 markets. In fact, the platform processed more than 13 billion transactions worth over 330 billion dollars in the first half of 2026 alone. Its network includes over 2.3 million merchants and roughly one million agents. Meanwhile, international remittances on the platform topped 3 billion dollars during that same period.
Dioum summed up the shift in simple terms. According to him, MTN first focused on giving customers access to financial services. Now, the company wants to move them from access to active participation. In practice, this means encouraging more people to pay merchants directly from their wallets, apply for loans, save money, and send funds across borders instead of just holding a balance.
He pointed to Rwanda and Uganda as proof that this model works. In those markets, customers can already send money across borders through MoMo almost as easily as a domestic transfer. MTN hopes to bring that same ease to how South Africans move money too.
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Behind the scenes, MTN is also building an open application programming interface. This allows outside partners to plug their services into its ecosystem. Currently, the company works with banks, utility providers, merchants, and other businesses across its markets.
MTN Group chairman Mcebisi Jonas framed the strategy within a larger continental vision. According to him, Africa’s digital economy will increasingly depend on connecting markets, supporting regional trade, and letting people and businesses operate across borders without friction.
Still, as MoMo expands into lending, remittances, and merchant payments, MTN will face tighter regulatory scrutiny. Regulators will watch closely how the company delivers these services and protects customer money and data. South African Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago admitted the country’s payments system needs to catch up with technology. Other countries are already ahead, he noted.
He also stressed that innovation and regulation must move together, not in conflict. To that end, the Reserve Bank is shifting toward an activity-based regulatory model. Under this approach, banks and fintechs offering similar services, like e-money issuance or payment acceptance, would face the same rules regardless of company type.
This shift could give MTN more room to compete directly in payments. At the same time, it would still need to meet requirements around consumer protection, fund safeguarding, and operational resilience. MTN Group Fintech chief legal officer Nikiwe Tanga said innovation is creating major opportunities for Africa. However, she warned that lasting progress depends on trust keeping pace with that innovation.
For now, MTN’s bet is clear. South Africa’s cash habits look less like an obstacle and more like an opportunity. And MoMo wants to be the platform that finally tips the balance toward digital payments.
