MTN Nigeria’s fintech revenue drops 25.9% despite MoMo’s 102% growth

MTN Nigeria’s fintech division experienced a 25.9% decline in revenue during the first nine months of 2026, despite its core mobile money business more than doubling. This contrast underscores a slow recovery in its financial services.

In its financial report released on October 30, 2026, MTN revealed that fintech revenue fell to ₦97.5 billion, down from ₦131.6 billion in the same period last year. The decline mainly stemmed from the suspension of its airtime and data credit service between April and June 2026, which let customers borrow airtime or data for later repayment.

The company reported that the service has since resumed with a new multi-partner model and showed signs of recovery, with revenue up by 78.5% in the third quarter compared to the second quarter.

MTN MoMo

However, this recovery wasn’t enough to counterbalance the earlier decrease. In Q3 alone, fintech revenue dropped by 58.1% year-on-year to ₦20.3 billion, compared to ₦48.4 billion during the same period in 2025.

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MoMo’s mobile money business doubles revenue

MTN’s mobile money business has shown impressive growth, with revenue climbing by 102.2% in the last nine months. This growth stems largely from increased customer wallet balances, which soared to ₦43.8 billion as of December 2025.

The company is earning more from the funds that customers keep in their MoMo wallets rather than just from payment transactions. These higher wallet balances contribute to greater earnings through the interest generated on the funds.

Bode Abifarin, CEO of MoMo PSB

In August 2026, MTN upgraded MoMo Payment Service Bank (MoMo PSB) to the Alipay+ platform. This upgrade aims to enhance reliability, security, and the variety of services offered to customers.

As of the end of September, MoMo had 3.2 million monthly active users, a number that reflects only those on the new platform, as users transition from older wallets and new customers join.

Despite this transition, the volume of transactions in the third quarter rose by 69.1% from the previous quarter, indicating that activity on the platform is increasing.

MTN looks to rebuild fintech momentum

MTN’s main focus now is to complete the migration of customers to the new MoMo platform. The telco aims to boost wallet activity and expand the range of services customers use.

The company anticipates that its airtime and data services will return to expected levels by the end of November 2026.

In the long term, MTN reported that the structural separation of its fintech business is moving forward, pending regulatory approvals. This change could help clarify the structure of its financial services as the company seeks to grow.

MTN Nigeria building, Ikoyi, Lagos. Image taken on July 6, 2026 and filtered with AI

Currently, the situation is mixed: while MoMo’s core mobile money operations are growing quickly, the overall fintech business is still recovering from disruptions to its credit services.

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