South Africa-based telecommunications and digital-services group MTN (JSE: MTN) is exploring banking licences in selected African markets that could allow it to take deposits and increasingly lend from its own balance sheet, CEO Ralph Mupita told Reuters.

MTN is a pan-African telecoms group offering mobile voice and data, fintech, enterprise and digital infrastructure services. The company reported 317.7mn customers across its footprint at the end of June.

Mupita said that MTN was assessing licences in markets where it has large customer bases and significant balances held in mobile money wallets. He said any move towards direct lending would be selective and gradual because of the additional financial and regulatory risks, while the group would continue working with banking partners.

“The big growth now, which will be the growth of the future, is actually lending,” Mupita told Reuters.

MTN’s own first-half results show the scale of the platform from which it is seeking to expand. The group reported 70.8mn monthly active Mobile Money users at the end of June, up 12.1% year on year. Fintech transaction volumes rose 17.2% to 13bn in the first half, while transaction value increased 33.8% in constant currency to $330.5bn. Revenue from advanced financial services rose 31.8% in constant currency.

If pursued, deposit taking and increased balance-sheet lending would put MTN into more direct competition with banks and other financial-services providers in some of its African markets. MTN has identified fintech as one of the principal growth areas under its Ambition 2030 strategy.

Other African telecom groups have also moved deeper into financial services, though under differing regulatory models. Orange (Euronext Paris: ORA) and NSIA launched Orange Bank Africa in Côte d’Ivoire in 2020, offering savings and credit through a licensed digital bank. Airtel Africa (LSE: AAF; NGX: AIRTELAFRI), meanwhile, operates SmartCash Payment Service Bank in Nigeria, which can accept deposits and provide payments and remittances but is prohibited by central bank rules from lending. Airtel Money separately offers lending, savings and insurance products across several African markets.

MTN disclosed alongside its first-half results that it had established Africa Data Hub Holding with a UAE-backed data centre investment platform. Mupita subsequently told Reuters that MTN would hold a minority stake while its partner would provide most of the capital and technical expertise.

The initial phase is expected to target about 150 MW of data centre capacity across South Africa and Nigeria, Mupita told Reuters, with further expansion dependent on demand. He said the venture would seek to capture growing demand for artificial intelligence, cloud and enterprise computing infrastructure.

The banking and data centre initiatives form part of MTN’s broader effort to diversify beyond mobile connectivity, with fintech and digital infrastructure among the growth businesses identified under its Ambition 2030 strategy.