MTN Nigeria is once again proving why it remains the undisputed cash machine of Corporate Nigeria.
The telecom giant’s latest results show N3.7 trillion in revenue and N1.1 trillion in pre-tax profit for the third quarter, marking a full recovery from the foreign exchange losses that nearly erased its balance sheet just seven quarters ago.
With dividend payments restored, MTN has re-entered the league of consistent shareholder performers.
As expected, voice and data remain the heavy lifters. Data revenue surged 36% year-on-year as active users hit 51.1 million, while total subscribers climbed to 85.4 million. Together, voice and data contributed roughly N3.2 trillion to the top line. Yet amid these familiar successes, another business quietly stole the spotlight, FinTech.
MTN’s FinTech division, which houses Yello Digital Financial Services and MoMo Payment Service Bank, has turned into a serious growth engine.
In the first nine months of 2025, it generated N131.6 billion in revenue, up a stunning 72.5% from the same period last year.
That’s about N43 billion a quarter or N15 billion monthly. For perspective, some banks don’t make that much. If MTN’s FinTech arm were a standalone startup, it would already be valued at unicorn status.
This success is not accidental. MTN has methodically leveraged its massive base of 85.4 million mobile subscribers, 55 million of whom are active data users, to build one of the most extensive digital financial ecosystems in Nigeria.
The company’s strategy has focused on expanding active wallets, increasing transaction volumes, and introducing advanced financial services that encourage repeat use. Active wallets climbed to 2.9 million as of September 2025, up 1.6% since December 2024, signaling a steady deepening of customer engagement.
MTN’s leadership frames its FinTech push as more than just a growth story; it’s an inclusion story. The company frequently reiterates its commitment to financial inclusion, a phrase that is easy to overuse but difficult to deliver on at scale. Yet, with a reach that extends to virtually every corner of the country, MTN is uniquely positioned to democratize access to financial services. Its MoMo agents are now ubiquitous in both urban markets and rural communities, providing an accessible bridge between cash and digital transactions.
In its latest strategy recalibration, MTN has emphasized driving the “quality and stickiness” of its wallet base, expanding adoption of the MoMo app, and scaling its digital ecosystem. The ambition is clear: convert casual users into habitual ones and ensure that MoMo becomes not just another payment app, but a lifestyle utility. With features spanning mobile wallets, payments, microloans, mobile commerce, and micro-insurance, all accessible via app or USSD, MTN’s FinTech platform is steadily evolving into an all-in-one financial companion.
The company’s foresight in securing key licenses years ago is now paying off. Its Super-Agent licence, for instance, allows MTN to extend financial services through a rapidly growing agent network, while its Payment Service Bank licence gives it the regulatory latitude to compete directly with traditional banks. Layered on top of this infrastructure are innovative lifestyle offerings that leverage MTN’s existing systems to provide other products alongside digital services.
When MTN first began tracking its FinTech revenues in 2015, the business generated a modest N8.8 billion. Fast forward a decade, and that figure has multiplied more than tenfold. The compound annual growth rate is enough to make even the most stoic CFO raise an eyebrow. Today, with N131.6 billion already booked this year, MTN’s FinTech division has transformed from a side hustle into a pillar of its corporate empire.
The timing could not be more fortuitous. Nigeria’s financial landscape is being rewired by regulation and innovation alike. New frameworks from bodies like NITDA, the National Identity Management Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission are paving the way for digital lending, open banking, and consumer credit expansion.
The pieces are falling into place for a formalized digital credit market, and MTN, with its data, reach, and customer intimacy, is ideally positioned to dominate it.
Unlike traditional banks, which still grapple with high customer acquisition costs and legacy systems, MTN already has the infrastructure and insights needed to extend credit efficiently.
It can leverage AI to learn its users’ behaviors, spending patterns, and payment histories, a treasure trove for algorithmic lending. With consumer lending touted as Nigeria’s next billion-dollar opportunity, the company’s FinTech arm could easily become the engine that powers the next phase of its growth.
It would be unwise to bet against MTN’s FinTech juggernaut crossing the N200 billion annual revenue mark by 2026.
More importantly, it may not be long before this division is spun off and listed as a standalone business, much like Safaricom’s M-Pesa ambitions in Kenya. A listing could unlock even greater value for shareholders and cement MTN’s role as both a telecom and financial powerhouse.
For a company once defined by call minutes and megabytes, that’s quite a pivot and a profitable one at that.
