MTN Group, the continent’s biggest telecom operator, has formally spun off its mobile money arm in Ghana as part of a broader strategy to develop its fintech business into an independent growth unit.
According to a regulatory filing, MTN’s Ghanaian subsidiary, Scancom PLC, completed the merger of MobileMoney Ltd with a newly established entity called MobileMoney Fintech Ltd (MMFL), effective March 31, 2026, following the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals. The new entity will oversee all of MTN Ghana’s mobile money activities and is co-owned by MTN Dutch Holdings B.V. and the MTN Ghana Fintech Trust, which represents local non-group shareholders. Importantly, the restructuring leaves MTN Ghana’s existing shareholding, capital structure, and core telecom operations unchanged.
The separation is designed to allow the fintech unit to attract independent investment, broaden its offerings across payments, lending, and digital financial services, and be assessed on its own merits rather than bundled with the telecoms business. It also brings MTN into compliance with Ghana’s Payment Systems and Services Act of 2019.
This move is part of MTN’s wider effort to elevate mobile money as a central pillar of its business, amid a booming mobile money landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa, where transactions reached $1.4 trillion in 2025. Ghana is among MTN’s most established mobile money markets, generating roughly $549 million in MoMo revenue in 2025. Across the group, fintech transaction volumes climbed nearly 40% to $500.3 billion that same year, with 69.5 million active customers recorded across its subsidiaries.
Ghana’s successful separation now serves as a blueprint for similar exercises underway in Nigeria and Uganda. In Uganda, shareholders have already voted in favour of the spinoff, while in Nigeria, board approval has been secured, though shareholder and regulatory sign-offs are still pending. The fintech restructuring also ties into a 2023 deal with Mastercard, which could take a stake of up to $200 million, implying a valuation of around $5.2 billion for MTN’s fintech unit.
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