Vodacom’s financial services business is becoming a much bigger contributor to group revenue.
In its interim results for the six months to 30 September 2025, released on Monday, Vodacom reported fintech revenue of R8-billion, up 20% from the R6.7-billion reported at the same time in 2024.
“M-Pesa remains Africa’s largest mobile money platform, processing over US$476.8-billion (R8.2-trillion) in transaction value over the year, including Safaricom. Vodacom Group financial services revenue now accounts for 12% of group service revenue,” said Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub in commentary alongside the results.
“These results highlight the growing demand for payments, savings, lending and merchant solutions across our footprint.”
At the end of its 2025 financial year in March, fintech’s contribution to Vodacom’s total revenue was below 10%. Vodacom attributed the growth in the last six months to favourable conditions in key markets, which drove a 13.1% increase in financial services customers to 93.7 million. This includes fintech customers in Kenya’s Safaricom, in which Vodacom holds a 35% stake.
Vodacom’s financial services strategy is driven by its “super apps”, VodaPay in South Africa and M-Pesa in markets like Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Egypt. Services offered in the apps include payments, savings, investments, lending, insurance and wealth management.
‘Beyond core’
In South Africa, financial services grew revenue by 6.3% year on year to R1.8-billion, driven by insurance, payments and lending. Egypt’s financial services revenue grew 48.3% in local currency and was supported by growth in users and transaction volumes.
Normalised M-Pesa revenue in Vodacom’s international business – which excludes its home market, South Africa – grew by 22%, with growth across the portfolio. M-Pesa revenue was supported by strong growth in “beyond core” services such as savings, loans and merchant offerings.
Core services for the financial business comprise peer-to-peer and cash-in and cash-out functionality. In the six months to end-September, “beyond core” services’ contribution reached 46% of M-Pesa revenue. Vodacom said one of the challenges limiting financial services growth is smartphone penetration, which Vodacom reports to be at 65% of its total customer base.
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“Vodacom’s ambitions as it looks to 2030 are to grow its customer base to over 260 million and our financial services customers to 120 million in the next five years while delivering double-digit Ebitda growth,” the group said. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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