Bradwin Roper, MTN SA chief financial services officer.

MTN South Africa's chief financial services officer, Bradwin Roper, has lauded the advances of mobile money, citing the technology's ability to help the unbanked as well as migrants.

Roper discussed the progress of MTN's Mobile Money (MoMo), which has over 8 million registered members in South Africa and has been exported to 17 other African markets, in an interview.

According to Statista, MTN Group's MoMo service more than doubled the number of active customers across its operations from 2018 to 2023.

According to the research firm, there were around 61.7 million active users on MoMo to send and receive mobile money payments as of the first quarter of 2023.

Due to greater access to technology, difficulty in accessing traditional financial institutions, and an increase in contactless payments, mobile money is fast expanding across Africa.

Roper explained to ITWeb Africa that through remittances, prepaid funeral plans, and personal loans, MoMo is making a difference in businesses and people's lives, while also reaching out to the unbanked South African population to break down barriers to basic financial needs and cross-border money transfers.

"This aligns with MTN's mission of providing a low-cost alternative service that allows users to participate in the benefits of formal financial services. These offerings facilitate financial inclusion by enabling both banked and unbanked South Africans, as well as foreign nationals in SA, to access the basic financial ecosystem without paying high service fees," Roper explained in an interview.

He stated that MTN was committed to providing an alternative to costly financial services both locally and throughout the continent.

"We are achieving this by introducing value-added platforms to our services that offer mobile users cheaper, more accessible options," Roper went on to say.

"People, particularly those in rural areas with limited access to traditional infrastructure, seek connectivity, simplicity, dependability, and an expanding range of services from a single source. We will continue to work hard to ensure that we provide these services to as many market areas as feasible."

Roper noted that the MoMo assists people purchase airtime and data packages, and that users could do much more on the app for international remittances - moving money throughout Africa enabled by Click-send-now.

Customers can also use the MoMo app to pay municipal utilities, get prepaid funeral cover, get grocery vouchers, buy bus tickets, access loans, and renew licence discs, according to him.

Customers that use MoMo, according to Roper, do not have to travel or wait long to receive or send money, as they scan a barcode with their phone to pay, he explained, adding that there are no monthly costs, allowing them to go cashless and avoid bank queues.

He also stated that MoMo is zero-rated, which means it uses no airtime or data and is available to all clients on any network.

All MTN outlets and over 20,000 spaza (informal) shops around the country have joined up to sell MoMo services, according to Roper.