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MTN Nigeria

“Can Africa's largest telco convert its 50M-subscriber distribution edge and MoMo PSB license into a full-stack digital bank for Nigeria's unbanked and MSME long tail?”

Founded2001
HQLagos, Nigeria
Latest roundIPO (2019, NGX); Public Offer 2021
IndustryTelecom / Mobile Network Operator with embedded fintech (MoMo PSB)
The story

MTN Nigeria was launched as a GSM telecom in 2001 and became Nigeria's largest mobile operator with 50M+ subscribers. Since 2019 it has aggressively built out an embedded-finance business under YDFS and later MoMo PSB, mirroring MTN Group's continent-wide strategy to turn mobile-money rails into a full-stack digital-finance platform. The 2022 PSB license, the 2024 Mastercard tie-up, and the 2025 Network International issuer-processing deal mark a clear shift from airtime/telecom toward being a fintech platform for Nigeria's unbanked and MSME segments. MTN Group is now carving the fintech unit out for strategic investment, with Mastercard tipped as a minority partner.

Last 12 months
2026-07
2026-06
2026-08
2025-11
2025-02
2024-11
Product timeline
2001
Launched as GSM operator in Nigeria; first call made at Maritime House, Apapa· launch
2019
Listed on Nigerian Exchange (NGX) via listing by introduction· ipo
2019
YDFS obtained Super-Agent license, launching MoMo Agent network· banking
2022
MoMo Payment Service Bank (PSB) launched under CBN license, expanding into wallets, remittances, bill pay· banking
2024
Signed multi-market partnership with Mastercard across 13 African markets for MoMo virtual prepaid card and merchant acceptance· card
2024
MoMo PSB applied for PSSP and PTSP licenses to compete with OPay/Paystack in acquiring/PoS· pivot
2025
Network International appointed as MTN Group Fintech's card issuer-processor, starting with Rwanda, Uganda, Côte d'Ivoire, and Nigeria· card
2025
MoMo PSB expanded Thunes partnership for inbound remittances from 100+ countries· banking
2026
Fiducia partnership to unlock supply chain finance for MTN's SMB vendor ecosystem· lending
2026
Group announced separation of Nigeria + Uganda fintech businesses to attract strategic investors (Mastercard minority stake in play)· pivot
Regulated entities
3
regulatory licences held by MTN Nigeria
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
8 layers disclosed in MTN Nigeria’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
MoMo PSB (self-operated)MyKiya Integrated Payment Gateway (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Card network
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Insurance
in the full report
Unified APIs
in the full report
FX & payouts
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
11 more providers across 7 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.