Global Technology Partners (GTP) and MFS Africa have entered into an agreement to deepen financial penetration across Africa.

MFS Africa will leverage on GTP’s prepaid platform and Pan-African network of BIN sponsors to launch virtual and physical prepaid / companion cards to over 100 million mobile wallet owners.

According to the partners, this relationship will also facilitate the funding of prepaid cards across the continent using mobile wallets and bank accounts. The cards will run on Visa and Mastercard networks.

In a statement released to the media, the partners say that 57% of Africans don’t have access to basic banking and that statistic also hides a gender gap - in Sub-Saharan Africa only 37% of women and 48% of men have a bank account. Historically, Africa has a low density per capita of bank branches and this is even more pronounced in rural areas.

Africans’ rapid take up of mobile phones coupled with digital banking/Fintech is a game changer in tackling this.

“We see this relationship as another indication of the strategic alliances required to fulfil the promise of bringing financial inclusion to every eligible African,” said Rich Bialek, GTP CEO.

“One of the key strategies we have had from the onset is to connect Africans with financial services that speak to their everyday lives. This relationship is adding another layer to this as it affords wallet holders the ability to purchase domestically and internationally from millions of merchants,” said Dare Okoudjou, MFS Founder & CEO

In March this year MFS Africa announced that it had reached over 320 million mobile money wallets on the continent.

According to MFS Africa, based on the 2021 State of the Industry report on Mobile Money released by the GSMA, it effectively covers 60% of all mobile money wallets in sub-Saharan Africa.

In May this year ITWeb Africa reported that according to the GSMA, cross-border remittances processed via mobile money increased by 65% in 2020 to US$12-billion in 2021.