Equity Bank and Mastercard Join Forces to Revolutionize Digital Payments in East Africa
Equity Group has entered into an ambitious Customer Business Agreement with Mastercard based on a shared vision of empowering customers and businesses across the East African region. This strategic partnership aims to provide customers various benefits by offering different Mastercard payment solutions, including World and World Elite cards, corporate cards, and virtual cards. Moreover, it will enable customers to perform various types of payments, including cross-border remittances, e-commerce transactions, and innovative QR and Tap-on-Phone solutions.
The collaboration between Equity Group and Mastercard is founded on the belief that modern payment solutions should cater to a broad spectrum of lifestyle and business requirements. As part of this commitment, both entities will work closely to continuously innovate and co-create payment solutions that align with evolving customer needs, particularly in e-commerce, cross-border payments, and segment-specific value propositions. Exciting innovations on the horizon include community pass solutions designed to facilitate access to financial services for farmers and traders through various identification methods, such as QR codes, biometric authentication, and facial recognition.
One of the most significant outcomes of this partnership is the extension of modern payment capabilities to Equity Bank’s subsidiaries across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This expansion will bring the benefits of advanced payment solutions to a vast customer base, further solidifying Equity Bank’s position as a preferred trade and investment partner in the region.
During the official signing of the agreement, Dr. James Mwangi (CBS), Group Managing Director and CEO of Equity Group Holdings Plc, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership: “We are pleased to scale up our strategic partnership with Mastercard through the Customer Business Agreement. The opportunity to co-create futuristic payment solutions for our customers across all our bank subsidiaries is part of our strategy of delivering a ‘One Equity’ experience across all our markets. Equity has become the preferred trade and investment partner in the region, making our value proposition in payments and remittances a central part of our offerings. Our partnership with Mastercard is mutually beneficial, timely and aligned to our customer-centric commitment.”
Mark Elliott, Division President for Sub-Saharan Africa at Mastercard, echoed these sentiments, stating, “This alliance underlines our commitment to financial inclusion and digital transformation in Africa. Over the years, we have been working on developing, incubating, and scaling simple and locally relevant digital solutions, building stronger payment ecosystems, and extending acceptance infrastructure to small, mid-sized, and micro businesses. By working with Equity Group – the largest financial institution in East Africa – we are setting the pace for an evolved, affordable, and transparent payment ecosystem across Africa.”