MTN Group Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Mupita has dismissed speculation that Africa’s largest telecom operator is preparing to enter mainstream banking, saying the company’s priority remains driving financial inclusion through its Mobile Money platform rather than seeking a banking licence.
Speaking at the Bright Conversations series in Accra, Mupita emphasized that while banking could be considered in the future, MTN sees greater value in expanding financial access to millions of unbanked and underserved people across the continent.
“Bank is just a license and a license is creating capabilities and adding the capital to do certain things so we don’t see ourselves as a bank today but let us not exclude that as a possibility in the future,” he said.
“Well I think it is more useful for us to think about the role we have to play in driving financial inclusion. We are not even 50 percent through. There’s a lot more to play out even in the first half it is not finished. But there may be a time when we think we may need different capabilities and a license but that is not occupying our minds right now,” he stressed.
The clarification comes against the backdrop of rising scrutiny of MTN Ghana’s dominance in the financial sector. In May 2025, economist and former Bank of Baroda board member Professor Stephen Adei warned that MTN Ghana and its fintech arm, MobileMoney Limited (MoMo), pose a growing systemic risk to the country’s financial system.
“MTN is today probably the biggest corporate financial institution in Ghana, even if many citizens are not aware of it. If left unchecked, MTN will hold the nation to ransom one day. Mark my words,” Prof. Adei said during the Ghana Corporate Finance Awards Gala Dinner.
He noted that surging mobile money usage has turned MTN into Ghana’s de facto largest financial services platform, with float deposits that some say now surpass the deposit base of the traditional banking sector.
Mupita’s remarks also coincided with the release of MTN Group’s half-year results, which showed a 23.3 percent year-on-year rise in service revenue to $5.7 billion, partly driven by strong performance in Ghana. He commended staff and assured Ghanaian customers of “uncompromised service delivery.”
