MTN and Ecobank Partner to Make Mobile Money Accessible

We’ve mentioned a few times in previous posts that it would absolutely be completely amazing if a mobile money service provider partnered with a bank to make transactions more accessible. It seems while we were yammering away, MTN and Ecobank were busy striking a deal to do just that.

According to All Africa, MTN Mobile Money users, who are also Ecobank customers in 12 African countries, will soon be able to withdraw cash from Ecobank ATMs. They will also be able to transfer money between their Mobile Money and Ecobank accounts.

The service was piloted in Ghana last month, and will soon be launched in Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, the Republic of Guinea, Liberia, Congo Brazzaville, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Zambia.

This is a big step towards branchless banking, higher emphasis on customer benefit, and definitely embracing the age of self-service.

Patrick Akinwuntan, Ecobank’s Group Executive Director for Domestic Banking, added: “This roll-out further demonstrates our commitment to make branchless banking a reality by activating multiple service channels in every country in which we operate. Our unique pan-African footprint will also enable us to be at the forefront of developing the market for cross-border mobile money services in Africa.”

Initiatives such as the partnership between MTN and Ecobank are expected to have a certain success in the mobile money sector owing to the fact that fewer people in developing countries having access to traditional banking and financial services.