Mastercard has partnered with Smile ID to roll out digital identity solutions across Africa. Mastercard has also made a minority investment in Smile ID. Through this partnership, two companies hope to reduce fraud, make the customer onboarding process faster and expand access to financial services across the continent.
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This partnership brings together Mastercard’s global identity and payments expertise with Smile ID’s fraud detection and data verification tools. According to Mastercard, Africa’s digital economy is projected to hit $1.5 trillion by 2030. Fragmented identity systems remain a barrier to growth at the moment. Millions of potential users cannot access financial services due to a lack of trusted digital verification systems. At the same time, financial institutions face mounting costs from synthetic identity fraud.
As smartphone penetration rises across the continent, reliable identity solutions will be key enablers of financial inclusion, secure cross-border transactions and compliance with regulatory requirements such as Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML).
The partnership opens Mastercard’s ecosystem including banks, fintechs, telecom operators, and mobile money providers to Smile ID’s tools. These will be embedded into Mastercard’s digital platforms and will enable Instant, secure user onboarding across African markets. It will also improve fraud detection and compliance with local and global KYC/AML regulations.
Smile ID’s integrations with government registries and local data sources provide near real-time verification capabilities, giving Mastercard partners a stronger foundation for building trust in digital transactions.
“The surge in synthetic identity fraud in Africa is costing banks and lenders hundreds of millions of dollars a year,” said Mark Straub, CEO of Smile ID. “By joining forces with Mastercard, we can expand opportunities for consumers by giving banks and mobile wallets the confidence to onboard the next 300 million African users securely, in seconds.”
Mastercard executives highlighted that Smile ID’s platform complements its own commitment to building trusted, inclusive digital ecosystems. Selin Bahadirli, Executive Vice President, Services, Mastercard EEMEA, said the move is “a pivotal step in advancing digital trust and inclusion across Africa.”
You can learn more about this partnership and the products offered here.
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