• Hub2, Ecobank to link 200 million mobile wallets

• Rollout to focus first on UEMOA and CEMAC

• Africa holds 74% of global mobile money volume

Ivorian financial services company Hub2 has signed a memorandum of understanding with Ecobank to connect more than 200 million mobile wallets to the pan-African lender’s banking platform.

The agreement, signed on Feb. 25, will integrate Ecobank’s infrastructure with the mobile money networks aggregated by Hub2, creating a unified payments gateway. The interconnection will allow merchants, fintechs and remittance operators to process cross-border payments without setting up multiple technical integrations. Transactions will be initiated from mobile wallets and settled through Ecobank’s banking system.

Initial focus on UEMOA and CEMAC

The first phase of the rollout will target the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), where mobile money is a key payment channel and where Hub2 already operates.

In the CEMAC zone, electronic money accounts exceeded 40 million in 2023, up from 37 million in 2022, an increase of 7.1%. Transactions rose 45.99% in 2023 to 3.5 billion, compared with 2.4 billion a year earlier, according to a payment services report published in October by the Bank of Central African States (BEAC).

West Africa had 485 million registered mobile money accounts in 2024. Africa accounts for about 74% of global mobile money transaction volume, according to the GSMA’s State of the Industry on Mobile Money report. In sub-Saharan Africa, more than 709 million accounts were registered and the sector contributed $190 billion to GDP in 2023.

Despite rapid growth, companies still need separate integrations with multiple mobile money operators to accept payments across different countries, increasing technical costs and delaying market entry. By providing access to Ecobank’s settlement infrastructure, Hub2 gives clients access to multiple banking markets and mobile money networks through a single connection.

For Ecobank, the partnership strengthens its position in digital payments and e-commerce. The group already operates a digital banking platform and offers services to businesses. By linking with a mobile wallet aggregator, it broadens access to millions of unbanked and underbanked users.

“With more than 500 million e-commerce users expected in 2026, African merchants need inclusive and interoperable payment infrastructure. Our partnership with Ecobank reflects a shared ambition to accelerate financial inclusion and digital trade through seamless access to all payment methods for African businesses at scale,” said Jean-Rémi Kouchakji, co-CEO of Hub2.

Chamberline Moko