MTN Group has collaborated with local credit provider, Lndr, to provide a new personal loan offering on its Mobile Money (MoMo) financial services platform, as the telco moves to transform it into a marketplace.
According to the telecoms operator, MoMo is diversifying its offerings to increase financial inclusion and meet the rising demand for online payment services across the African continent.
The e-wallet service, which was first launched in 2012, has now garnered 6.2 million users, says MTN.
MoMo Personal Loans offers a seamless application and loan approval process for loans ranging from R2 000 to R180 000 with R1 000 of the approved funds being disbursed into the customer’s MoMo wallet.
A portion of the funds can then be safely and quickly disbursed into the MoMo wallet so that value-added services or cash-out funds can be purchased, and the balance of the loan fund can be paid into the customer’s bank account, notes the telco.
“Financial inclusion is critical in building a more equitable society. Particularly useful for those living and working outside of urban centres, we’re pleased by the innovation we’ve unlocked through MoMo since 2019”, says Felix Kamenga, MTN SA chief officer for mobile financial services.
“We want to unlock economic growth through financial and digital solutions for consumers and businesses of all sizes. As we grow our service offering, we aim to create a marketplace that supports cashless and digital economies through affordable, inclusive, understandable, and comprehensive financial services.”
In September 2016, MTN SA announced it was decommissioning the MoMo offering in the country due to lack of commercial viability. In 2019 MTN relaunched the platform in Johannesburg.
The qualifying applicant for the loan service will need to upload the required documents and then it’s just a matter of waiting for SMS confirmation of the assessment outcome, which will be shared within 24-48 hours.
The new personal loan offering comes after MTN recently signed other partnerships with fintech start-up Zapper, along with services aggregator QuickBus.
A new MoMo Zapper feature has been added on the app, to allow customers to make instant virtual payments to Zapper-enabled merchants across SA, using the QR scan feature on the MoMo app.
Through the QuickBus feature, customers can compare and purchase bus tickets across 25 different operators providing inter-provincial and cross-border travel.
“As we move further into the connected world of the future, consumers are looking for the most efficient ways to pay for goods and services, both physically and online. Carrying cash is not always safe and it’s often inconvenient to carry bank cards – MoMo offers the solution through functionality and features that make everyday digital payments quicker, easier, and safer than any other payment method,” adds Kamenga.
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