Mukuru expands everyday banking

Mukuru has launched a new transactional account in South Africa, expanding the fintech’s prepaid card offering with higher spending limits, lower fees, and outgoing EFTs and real-time payments to local banks.

The new option from the Pan-African fintech, which serves more than 17-million customers, is called Mukuru Account & Card. The product is offered in partnership with Bank Zero, the licensed sponsor bank, and is enabled by Paymentology and Mastercard.

According to the fintech, about 500,000 customers currently hold a Mukuru prepaid card, and migration to the new account is gathering momentum.

Mukuru says Account & Card customers can:

• Spend up to R150,000 a month.
• Send EFTs and real-time payments to any South African bank.
• Receive salaries and other incoming EFT payments faster.
• Make everyday purchases in-store and online and withdraw cash at reduced ATM fees.
• Access credit facilities.
• Get exclusive discounts when sending money across Africa.

“This launch is a key milestone in our remittance-led neobank strategy,” says Andy Jury, Mukuru CEO. “For 22 years, we’ve been synonymous with cross-border money transfers, and millions of our customers have trusted us with the money that matters most to them, the money they send to family. Over time we have introduced a range of complementary products and services and now, together with Bank Zero, we can give them their everyday banking too: getting paid, paying rent, shopping and sending money across borders, all from one account.”

Cash and digital access

According to Mukuru, the fintech has built a business on understanding how customers across Africa earn, move and use their money. In SA, this includes people who support family members in another province or country and who move between cash and digital payments every day.

Juan Seco, Mukuru chief growth officer, says: “At Mukuru, we always talk about meeting our customers where they are. Just because someone transacts in cash should not mean they have access to fewer financial services. The strength of the Account & Card is that it bridges that gap and can grow with the customer, leveraging the reach of our physical and digital networks.”

The South African launch follows the launch of the Mukuru Wallet & Card in Botswana. Mukuru holds e-money licences in Botswana, Zambia and Malawi, and a deposit-taking microfinance licence in Zimbabwe.

Customers can sign up for the Mukuru Account & Card through the app, WhatsApp, branches, participating partner locations, customer service offices and field representatives across South Africa. Mukuru’s wider distribution network includes 320,000 physical locations offering financial services or cash deposits and withdrawals.

* To locate a Mukuru branch or register on the app, visit the website here.

* Jason Bannier is a data analyst at World Wide Worx and deputy editor of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Bluesky at @jas2bann.