MTN MoMo active wallets surge to 5.5m in Q2

MTN Nigeria has reported a significant recovery in its MoMo Payment Service Bank (PSB) active wallets, reaching 5.5 million by the end of the second quarter of 2024.

This comes after a 9 percent decline in active wallets during Q1 2024, attributed to the National Identification Number (NIN) requirement for Know Your Customer (KYC) validation. According to MTN’s half-year 2024 financial results, the number of MoMo active wallets increased by 701,000 in Q2, reflecting a strong rebound.

“We are pleased with the momentum in wallet adoption in Q2 following the pressure in Q1 from the NIN requirement for KYC validation, which affected approximately a million active wallets,” said Karl Toriola, MTN Nigeria’s chief executive officer.

This growth in mobile money users positively impacted the company’s fintech revenue, which saw an 11 percent increase over the six months and a 22.2 percent rise in Q2 alone. Specifically, MTN’s fintech revenue climbed to N48.6 billion for the first half of 2024, up from N43.6 billion during the same period last year.

Toriola attributed the growth in fintech revenue primarily to the success of their airtime lending product, Xtratime, alongside a notable uptick in the adoption of MoMo services. Despite the increase in digital wallet usage, the total number of MoMo agents, including those handling over-the-counter (OTC) transactions, decreased by 24,000 to 302,800 during the review period.

“This decline suggests a shift towards greater use of wallets and self-service channels among users,” the report said.