Mastercard, a US-based financial services company, recently agreed to pay USD 100 million for a 3.75-percent equity stake in Airtel Mobile Commerce, a subsidiary of the telecommunications company Airtel Africa that uses the trade name Airtel Money. Mastercard and Airtel Money plan to deepen their ongoing partnership in the areas of “card issuance, payment gateway, payment processing, merchant acceptance and remittance solutions.”
Airtel Money offers financial services in Africa and Asia, including deposits and withdrawals from mobile wallets; merchant and commercial payments; and virtual credit cards. Founded in 2018, UK-based Airtel Africa serves 14 African countries. For the quarter ending June 2020, it reported 111 million customers and after-tax profits of USD 57 million on total revenues of USD 3.42 billion. India-based Bharti Airtel, its parent company, serves 423 million customers in 18 countries.
Headquartered in the US state of New York, Mastercard is a payments and technology company connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants and governments in approximately 210 countries and territories. As of October 2020, Mastercard reported net quarterly income of USD 1.5 billion on total assets of USD 32 billion.
By Bradley Shulman, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
Nasdaq article
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/mastercard-ma-to-invest-%24100-million-in-airtel-africa-2021-04-05
Airtel Africa homepage
https://airtel.africa/
Mastercard homepage
https://www.mastercard.us/
About Bharti Airtel
https://www.airtel.in/about-bharti/about-bharti-airtel/
Mastercard financial statement, December 2020
https://s25.q4cdn.com/479285134/files/doc_financials/2020/q4/4Q20-Earnings-Release.pdf
Airtel Africa financial statement
https://airtel.africa/assets/pdf/Financial-Statements.pdf
Previous MicroCapital article on Mastercard
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-fintechs-carticard-egabi-mastercard-partner-to-offer-microloans-via-payment-cards-in-egypt/
Previous MicroCapital article on Airtel Africa
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-moneygram-international-airtel-africa-to-offer-mobile-remittances/
More news on Mastercard from MicroCapital
https://www.microcapital.org/?s=mastercard
More news on Airtel from MicroCapital
https://www.microcapital.org/?s=airtel
Did you know that MicroCapital publishes the MicroCapital Monitor newspaper each month? Find out more at https://www.microcapital.org/products-page/.
Similar Posts:
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mastercard, Vodafone Fiji Partner to Provide Debit Cards to Mobile Money Users
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: 24 Education Technology Startups in Kenya, Nigeria Joining Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lipa Later, Mastercard Partner on Buy Now / Pay Later Services in Africa
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Ualá App Offers Saving Account Paying 9% Interest in Mexico
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sama Money Acquires Première Agence de MicroFinance, Entering Microcredit Market in Mali
