The collaboration between Mastercard and Smile ID, a digital identity verification provider, has been extended as part of Mastercard’s strategy to enhance secure identification services across Africa.

Mastercard’s investment in Smile ID, though not significant, reflects the company’s commitment to supporting the continent’s digital economy. This partnership is designed to tackle fraud prevention and financial inclusion issues. By integrating Mastercard’s identity technologies with Smile ID’s verification and fraud detection tools, the collaboration aims to offer services tailored for banks, fintech companies, telecom operators, and mobile money providers. These services are expected to facilitate more efficient customer authentication while ensuring compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations.

Driving Digital Growth and Combating Fraud

Africa’s digital economy is projected to be valued at USD 1.5 trillion by 2030, driven by increasing smartphone adoption. Reliable digital identity solutions are becoming increasingly essential for both financial access and secure cross-border transactions.

Mastercard officials highlighted that fragmented identification systems pose a significant obstacle to participation in the digital economy, and this partnership with Smile ID is aimed at overcoming these challenges. Representatives from Smile ID also pointed out that synthetic identity fraud imposes substantial costs on lenders across Africa, annually amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. They believe that combining their data sources with Mastercard’s insights could enable institutions to securely onboard large numbers of new users swiftly.

Integrating government databases and other trusted sources into the partnership provides it with a pan-African reach and real-time verification capabilities. These solutions are anticipated to be embedded in Mastercard’s digital platforms, granting enterprises across Africa access to scalable identity services.