Despite a downward trend in global investment in African fintech since 2021, the industry’s landscape is evolving. A new report reveals a key trend: the integration of fintech into other verticals is on the rise across the continent.
This integration is fueled by the rise of open-loop interoperability, enabling transactions across different organizations and reshaping the financial landscape.
As a result, disruptors, telcos, and banks are forming new partnerships and alliances as they navigate this new environment, leading to the emergence of three primary archetypes.
One new trend is the collaboration between disruptors and banks. These two are leveraging their complementary capabilities to drive innovation, broaden market access, and offer more streamlined and comprehensive services, especially to underserved communities.
The McKinsey report cites the Fingo (Kenyan fintech) and pan-African bank Ecobank (operating in 33 African countries) partnership as an example. Fingo Africa’s app is designed to promote financial inclusion among young Africans through features like account opening, money transfers, and savings.
A second key trend is the emergence of partnerships between disruptors and telcos, which are extending access to financial services beyond the limitations of traditional mobile money. These expanded offerings include payments, international money transfers, lending, and savings, among other services.
For instance, in March 2024, M-PESA (Safaricom) partnered with Onafriq, a pan-African digital payment network, to simplify international remittances.
A third area of focus for partnerships is between banks and telcos. These collaborations aim to capitalize on extensive mobile network infrastructure and data to broaden the reach and enhance the quality of financial products.
A key example is the partnership between Kenya’s M-PESA and Nigeria’s Access Holdings, which facilitates cross-border remittances across East and West Africa.
Increased Financial Inclusion
The African fintech market is being reshaped by the integration of financial services into daily life, a trend known as “embedded finance.” Moove’s vehicle financing within ride-hailing apps and Korridor’s streamlined cross-border logistics payments are prime examples. Similar integrations are occurring in energy, retail, and healthcare.
Read: Uber’s Potential Investment in Moove: Driving Mobility and Financial Inclusion
Importantly, these partnerships are expanding mobile users’ access to global networks. For example, Mastercard’s virtual payment solution allows Zambian Airtel Money customers to make global online payments, while Absa Bank (Kenya) partnered with Visa to launch innovative solutions like Absa Mobi Tap.
This growth in access is set to grow fintech revenue, as the McKinsey report projects African fintech revenues to reach $47 billion by 2028, a nearly five-fold jump from $10 billion in 2023.
