Equity Bank and Mastercard entered into an ambitious Customer Business Agreement, poised to bring a wide array of benefits to customers across six countries where Equity Bank has a banking presence.
By leveraging Mastercard’s expertise and Equity Bank’s regional presence, customers will gain access to a diverse range of Mastercard payment solutions, including World and World Elite cards, corporate cards, and virtual cards. Additionally, customers will have the convenience of executing cross-border remittances, and e-commerce payments and utilizing QR and tap-on-phone solutions.
The deal is seen as a testament to the shared vision of both partners, which is centred on empowering customers to fulfil their payment needs, spanning various lifestyle and business requirements. Equity and Mastercard will collaborate closely, continuously developing payment solutions tailored to evolving customer preferences.
This includes the introduction of community pass solutions, allowing farmers and traders to access services through diverse identification methods such as QR codes, biometric authentication, and facial recognition.
Equity Bank’s footprint across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will ensure that modern payment capabilities are extended to all its subsidiaries within these regions.
Equity Bank, Mastercard Deal Will Empower SMEs
During the signing of the agreement, Dr James Mwangi (CBS), Group Managing Director and CEO of Equity Group Holdings Plc, expressed his enthusiasm, stating, “We are pleased to scale up our strategic partnership with Mastercard through the Customer Business Agreement. The opportunity to co-create futuristic payment solutions for our customers across all our bank subsidiaries is part of our strategy of delivering a ‘One Equity’ experience across all our markets. Equity has become the preferred trade and investment partner in the region, and this makes our value proposition in payments and remittances a central part of our offerings. Our partnership with Mastercard is both mutually beneficial, timely, and aligned with our customer-centric commitment.“
On his part, Mark Elliott, Division President for Sub-Saharan Africa at Mastercard, emphasized the significance of the alliance, saying, “This alliance underlines our commitment to financial inclusion and digital transformation in Africa. Over the years, we have been working on developing, incubating, and scaling simple and locally relevant digital solutions, building stronger payment ecosystems, and extending acceptance infrastructure to small, mid-sized, and micro businesses. By working together with Equity Group – the largest financial institution in East Africa – we are setting the pace for an evolved, affordable, and transparent payment ecosystem across Africa.”
In essence, this collaboration is poised to empower small, mid-sized, and micro businesses that were previously underserved. It will enable them to seamlessly and securely manage both domestic and international payments across physical and e-commerce transactions. This marks a significant step forward in the journey towards a more inclusive and efficient digital payments landscape in Africa.
