The fintech business of MTN Nigeria recorded a marginal increase to N22.8 billion in the first quarter(Q1) of this year.
According to the company’s Q1 2024 financial results just released, this represents a 0.7% growth compared with N22.7 billion recorded in the same period last year. MTN noted that its fintech revenue was impacted by industry-wide exercises of linking National Identification Numbers (NIN) with mobile numbers and KYC validation.
Specifically, a major part of the fintech business, MoMo PSB, recorded 50.5% in revenue. However, MTN said this was offset by the 5.5% increase in revenue from Xtratime, its airtime lending product.
Highlighting the factors that affected the company’s fintech business in the period under review, MTN Nigeria’s CEO, Mr. Karl Toriola, said:
Toriola further disclosed that the KYC validation exercise impacted approximately a million active wallets.
Despite the setbacks, Toriola said the fintech business remains a priority for the company and will continue to push for wallet adoption.
Meanwhile, MTN’s digital services revenue was up by 88.6% in the first quarter as the adoption of its digital products continues to grow with user journey optimization, revamped digital offers, and the growth of the active base, up 43.0% to 16.7 million YoY.
According to the company, its instant messaging platform, Ayoba, recorded a 27.3% YoY growth to 8.5 million active monthly users but remained relatively flat in the quarter.