MasterCard and Banco Sol Partnership to Drive Innovation in Angola’s Payment Sector
MasterCard and Banco Sol have partnered to introduce a dynamic suite of payment solutions to the citizens of Angola, which will help modernize and diversify one of Africa’s fastest growing economies.
The partnership will help develop a more robust payments industry and offer the country core solutions which will help drive financial inclusion and increased ease of business. These solutions includes MasterCard’s debit commercial prepaid card solutions, as well as commercial management control solutions. The partnership will also result in further innovations being made in the local payment ecosystem.
Daniel Monehin, MasterCard Division President for Sub-Saharan Africa, says the partnership with Banco Sol marks an important milestone for the banking sector in Angola.
“This partnership will help modernize the payment sector, and help diversify the economy which is in line with Government’s plan to drive economic growth in the country. It will also help to increase financial inclusion in Angola.”
Only 39.2 percent of Angolans have a bank account at a formal financial institution. This percentage is somewhat higher in urban areas, where 56.5 percent have an account, compared to 33.8 percent in rural areas.
“MasterCard shares Banco Sol’s vision of a more empowered, inclusive economy, and together we will continue bringing Angolans the enhanced security, increased financial inclusion, and broad economic growth that payments solutions offer,” says Monehin.
Angola has the third largest banking sector in Africa, after Nigeria and South Africa and the fifth largest economy in Africa and has enjoyed sustained economic growth. However, a need to diversify the economy, following a slowdown, and in order to minimise a dependence on oil has been identified.
As one of the biggest financial institutions in Angola Banco Sol is ideally placed to partner with MasterCard to meet these goals of economic diversification, increased financial inclusion and an increased ease of doing business.
“Thanks to this partnership Banco Sol will now be able to offer a payment suite which matches the global standard, meaning increased ease of doing business, more efficient systems for cross border payments, and eventually online payments, which will expose Angolan business to a global marketplace,” says Coutinho Nobre Miguel, Chairman of the Executive Committee of Banco Sol.
Angola is enjoying increased banking sophistication according to Empresa Interbancária de Serviços (EMIS). The operator of Angola’s only interbank network, EMIS, has tracked rapid growth in the use of ATMs. According to EMIS, between 2013 and 2014 the number of transactions in Angola increased almost 27 percent to over 170 million, attributed in part to growing numbers of foreign visitors.
MasterCard and Banco Sol’s partnership will help to drive this growth even further as new payment solutions are rolled out in the future.
