Mukuru has spent 22 years helping customers send money home. Now it is adding a bank account for the everyday transactions that come between those transfers.
On Wednesday, the Pan-African fintech, which says it is trusted by more than 17 million customers, launched the Mukuru Account & Card in South Africa, giving customers access to local payments, salary deposits, cash withdrawals and everyday card payments alongside its existing remittance services.
Customers who already trust Mukuru to send money home can now use it to get paid, pay rent, shop and manage their everyday finances from one account.
"This launch is a key milestone in our remittance-led neobank strategy," said Andy Jury, Mukuru CEO.
"For 22 years, we've been synonymous with cross-border money transfers, and millions of our customers have trusted us with the money that matters most to them, the money they send to family.
"Over time we have introduced a range of complementary products and services and now, together with Bank Zero, we can give them their everyday banking too: getting paid, paying rent, shopping and sending money across borders, all from one account."
The account allows customers to send EFTs and real-time payments to other South African banks, receive salaries and other incoming payments, spend up to R150,000 a month and withdraw cash at reduced ATM fees. Customers can also access credit facilities and discounts on cross-border transfers.
Mukuru says about 500,000 of its customers already hold its prepaid card in South Africa, creating an existing base it can migrate onto the new account. That makes the launch less about acquiring customers from scratch and more about getting existing users to make Mukuru a bigger part of their financial lives.
It is a strategy the company describes as a bridge between cash and digital banking. Mukuru says its network spans 320,000 physical locations offering services or cash-in/cash-out points, alongside its app and WhatsApp channels.
Juan Seco, chief growth officer at Mukuru: "Just because someone transacts in cash should not mean they have access to fewer financial services. The strength of the Account & Card is that it bridges that gap and can grow with the customer, leveraging the reach of our physical and digital networks."
Bank Zero provides the banking infrastructure behind the account, holding customer funds, while Paymentology provides processing and Mastercard provides the payment network.
The partnership also comes as Bank Zero pushes its "alliance banking" model, in which fintechs and other platforms bring customers onto its banking infrastructure.
Bank Zero CEO Yatin Narsai said last week that about 500,000 Mukuru customers were being migrated to its platform, taking the number of end customers on Bank Zero's infrastructure above 700,000.
The bank reached its first monthly break-even in August, with 275,000 direct customers, before completing the full Mukuru migration. The company already has scale, a physical distribution network and millions of customers who regularly move money. The new account aims to turn that existing behaviour into a broader financial-services business.
South Africa may be the testing ground. Mukuru already holds e-money licences in Botswana, Zambia and Malawi, and a deposit-taking microfinance licence in Zimbabwe, while its Account & Card strategy follows the recent launch of its Wallet & Card in Botswana.
If customers adopt the account beyond remittances, Mukuru will have moved another step away from being simply the company customers use to send money home, and closer to becoming the financial account they use every day.
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