Mastercard Announces Strategic Collaboration with OPay

Mastercard, the US-based financial services giant, announced a strategic partnership with fintech company OPay today to increase financial inclusion across the Middle East and Africa.

Mastercard called the recent partnership an important milestone in the company’s emerging market strategy. In the initial phase of the collaboration, the clients of OPay will be able to take advantage of the Mastercard virtual payment solution linked to their OPay wallets, to shop at prominent international brands.

Since 2018, OPay witnessed a sharp surge in the total number of active users. In Nigeria, the fintech firm gained a substantial market share. In the next 3 to 5 years, OPay is planning to expand its services across different markets around the world.

Amnah Ajmal, the Executive Vice President for Market Development at Mastercard EEMEA, said: “At Mastercard, our innovation strategy is rooted in partnerships to support inclusion at scale. Our partnership with OPay demonstrates our commitment to supporting payments providers across the world to create an interconnected global payments ecosystem that benefits an array of consumers with unique needs.”

In March 2022, Mastercard announced a partnership with Temenos to enhance the adoption of ‘Request to Pay’ services.

Africa and the Middle East

The adoption of financial technology has increased significantly in Africa and the Middle East. Digital payments are getting popular among young consumers in the mentioned regions.

“As the leading fintech in the Middle East and Africa, we are delighted to be partnering with Mastercard as we continue on our journey to promote financial inclusion, helping to open up the global economy to more consumers and businesses across the Middle East and Africa,” Yahui Zhou, the CEO of OPay, commented.

Earlier this year, Mastercard announced hiring Chad Wallace, the former Head of Digital Experiences for the Commercial Bank at Capital One, as the company’s new Executive Vice President of B2B Solutions.