Africa’s Digital Payments Enter a New Phase: Why Connecting the Networks Matters

Mobile money is no longer a service used only by people who live far from a bank branch. Across Africa, it has become part of everyday life. People use it to send money, pay bills, settle invoices and support relatives. Figures published in 2026 show that the sector is entering a more demanding phase. The central question is no longer simply how to open more accounts. It is how to make digital networks more useful, safer and easier to connect.

According to the GSMA, mobile money wallets processed more than $2 trillion in transactions worldwide in 2025. Registered accounts reached 2.3 billion, while 30-day active accounts increased by 15% to 593 million. Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for a large share of the new active accounts. The figures confirm the importance of mobile phones in expanding access to financial services, but they also reveal a less visible problem: almost three out of every four registered accounts are not used each month.

Mobile money is moving beyond transfers

The first success of mobile money was straightforward. It allowed people to transfer funds without travelling to a bank. Agent networks brought cash-in and cash-out services closer to neighbourhoods and rural communities, including areas where bank branches are limited. This physical network remains important when internet access is unreliable or when customers use basic phones.

Use cases are now expanding. Wallets can be used to pay merchants, receive wages, repay loans, buy insurance and, in some markets, access savings products. Operators and fintech companies are trying to turn a transfer tool into a daily financial account. That transition depends on trust. Customers need to understand fees, recover money sent by mistake and know how to report fraud. The number of registered accounts is therefore not enough to measure inclusion; regular use and service quality matter just as much.

Instant payments create a second layer

Mobile money often operates inside a closed network. A customer may send money quickly to another user of the same provider, but the process becomes more difficult when the recipient uses a different operator, a bank account or a merchant platform.

Instant payment systems are designed to reduce that fragmentation. They connect banks, mobile money operators, fintechs and merchants through shared rules and payment infrastructure. Mastercard reports that 33 of Africa’s 54 countries now have access to a domestic, national-scale instant payment system. It also cites GSMA figures showing that mobile money accounts processed $1.4 trillion across Africa in 2025, representing 92 billion transactions.

Speed and interoperability are not the same thing. A payment can be instant inside one network and still be difficult between two networks. Interoperability means that the customer does not need to understand the infrastructure behind the transaction. The user chooses the recipient, the amount and the payment method. The system handles the connection under clear rules.

Kenya illustrates this transition. PesaLink enables fast transfers between bank accounts in a market where mobile money is already deeply established. It also shows that adoption depends on more than technology. Fees, cash habits, agent coverage and confidence in financial institutions continue to shape how people pay.

The AfDB and AXIAN programme focuses on women-led businesses

The next stage of digital finance is not only about person-to-person transfers. It is also about small businesses that need working capital, financial knowledge and practical management tools.

In September 2026, the African Development Bank and AXIAN announced a programme designed to support more than 34,000 women-led businesses. The initiative uses the Mixx and MVola digital finance platforms and combines financial services, digital lending, financial literacy and business development support.

The financial products component will target women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Madagascar, Tanzania and Senegal. A second component will provide financial literacy, digital skills and entrepreneurship training to 25,000 women in Madagascar, Tanzania, Senegal, Togo and Comoros.

This approach matters because having a wallet does not automatically create access to finance. A trader may receive digital payments and still be unable to obtain a loan suited to her business. Transaction data can help providers understand business activity, but it must be used carefully. Consent, transparent credit decisions and a meaningful way to challenge a rejection are essential.

The African Development Bank estimates that women-owned businesses across Africa face a $49 billion financing gap. The programme cannot solve that gap on its own, but it shows that digital finance becomes more valuable when payments are combined with training and business support.

Why payment networks remain fragmented

Africa is not a single financial market. Countries use different currencies and have different foreign-exchange rules, settlement systems and compliance requirements. A wallet that works well in one country cannot always be launched in another without significant changes.

Regulation is central to the process. Authorities must allow innovation while protecting users. They need rules for customer identification, safeguarding funds, data protection, complaints, anti-money-laundering controls and access for non-bank fintechs to payment infrastructure.

Cross-border data rules create another obstacle. The GSMA reports that 24% of mobile money providers surveyed consider cross-border data-transfer regulations a barrier to their operations. Without compatible rules, a service may be fast inside one country but slow or expensive when a transaction crosses a border.

Cost is equally important. Small transactions cannot absorb high fixed fees. When the price becomes too high, customers return to cash. Providers must balance the cost of agent networks, security investment and customer affordability.

Security must keep pace with transaction volumes

The expansion of digital payments attracts fraud. Risks include stolen codes, identity theft, fake agents, phone-based scams and account takeovers. Providers must improve transaction monitoring without blocking legitimate customers too often.

Instant payments create an additional challenge. A transaction completed in seconds can be difficult to recover. Prevention must therefore happen before or during the payment. Tools can identify networks of accounts used to move fraudulent funds and trace how money is dispersed, but technology cannot replace compliance teams, complaint procedures or customer education.

Security also needs to be understandable. A customer should know why a payment was stopped, how to verify their identity and how long the review may take. Protection works better when users can understand and challenge it.

What fintech companies need to build next

African fintech companies have a major opportunity. They can offer simpler services than traditional banks while connecting networks that previously operated separately. Banks bring account management and settlement capacity. Telecom operators bring distribution and proximity. Fintechs bring interfaces, business tools and specialised products for merchants. Public institutions set common rules. None of these groups can build a coherent regional payment system alone.

Investment should focus on practical use cases: family remittances, supplier payments, small-business collections, social transfers and merchant refunds. Technology becomes valuable when it reduces the cost, delay or risk of a real transaction.

Growth needs to be measured differently

The sector’s next indicators should not be limited to the number of accounts opened or the total value of transactions. Providers and regulators should also monitor genuinely active accounts, payment success rates, dispute-resolution times, fraud levels and the access of women and small businesses to credit and savings.

Mobile money has already shown that it can widen access to financial services. Instant payments can now connect systems and support a more efficient digital economy. Africa does not need one system that erases local differences. It needs reliable bridges between different systems. The next phase of the continent’s digital transformation will depend on connecting people, merchants and institutions without making the payment process more complicated for the user.

References

GSMA, State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026. Mastercard, The rise of real-time payments in Africa, updated August 2026. African Development Bank and AXIAN, digital finance programme for more than 34,000 women-led businesses.