In a move set to transform Africa’s digital landscape, which is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030, Mastercard and SMILE ID have announced a strategic partnership to scale digital identity solutions across the continent.
The collaboration aims to boost secure, inclusive, and accessible identification systems that empower individuals, businesses, and governments. With Africa’s rapid digital growth, this partnership is expected to play a pivotal role in enabling financial inclusion, fostering trust in digital transactions, and unlocking new opportunities for innovation across multiple sectors.
As Africa’s digital economy grows rapidly, trusted identity solutions are a critical enabler of financial inclusion, fraud prevention, and cross-border commerce.
Additionally, smartphone penetration is continuing to rise, necessitating an urgent need to unlock opportunities for millions through secure identity verification services that work across digital channels.
Mastercard has extended its strategic commercial partnership with Smile ID, an identity verification provider in Africa, to accelerate the rollout of secure digital identity solutions across the continent.
This partnership will enable banks, fintechs, mobile money operators and other enterprises to onboard new customers faster, reduce identity fraud and expand access to the financial system.
The partnership combines Mastercard’s global insights and identity technology, which enables customers to verify digital identity elements with Smile ID’s data verification and fraud detection capabilities.
For more than five decades, Mastercard has worked alongside African governments, businesses, and communities to advance financial inclusion and economic development.
Mastercard, together with Smile ID, is well-positioned to address these challenges by expanding access to financial services while helping to support compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations across Africa.
“This partnership with Smile ID is a pivotal step in advancing digital trust and inclusion across Africa. As fragmented identity systems slow down businesses and lock millions out of the digital economy, Smile ID’s innovative identity platform complements Mastercard’s commitment to fostering secure and inclusive digital ecosystems,” said executive vice president in charge of services at Mastercard in EEMEA, Selin Bahadirli.
Through this partnership, Mastercard customers, including banks, telecom providers, mobile money operators, and fintechs, can gain access to Smile ID’s advanced identity verification tools.
Smile ID’s integrations with local governments and trusted data sources offer unique capabilities that differentiate this partnership in the region, for example, pan-African reach, near real-time onboarding, and integration with Mastercard’s insights.
“The surge in synthetic identity fraud in Africa is costing banks and lenders hundreds of millions of dollars a year,” said CEO of Smile ID, Mark Straub.
“By joining forces with Mastercard, we can help turn the tide. As we combine insights and technology, 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,” he concluded.
