Africa: Mastercard Strengthens Partnership with Smile ID to Advance Digital Identity Across Africa

Mastercard has expanded its strategic partnership with Smile ID, a leading African identity verification provider, to scale secure digital identity solutions across the continent.

Announced in a joint statement on Thursday, the collaboration is designed to help banks, fintechs, telecoms, mobile money operators, and enterprises streamline customer onboarding, reduce identity fraud, and broaden access to financial services.

The initiative integrates Mastercard’s global identity technology and insights with Smile ID’s advanced data verification and fraud detection tools, enabling instant and secure digital onboarding across multiple African markets. The enhanced system will also support compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements, while addressing growing threats such as synthetic identity fraud.

Selin Bahadirli, Executive Vice President, Services, Mastercard EEMEA, emphasised the importance of the partnership:

“This collaboration with Smile ID is a pivotal step in advancing digital trust and inclusion across Africa. As fragmented identity systems slow down businesses and exclude millions from the digital economy, Smile ID’s platform complements Mastercard’s commitment to building secure and inclusive digital ecosystems.”

With Africa’s digital economy projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030, the need for trusted identity infrastructurehas become critical for enabling financial inclusion, preventing fraud, and supporting cross-border commerce. The continent’s rapid smartphone adoption further underscores the urgency of robust, seamless digital verification systems.

As part of the agreement, Mastercard has also taken a minority equity stake in Smile ID, signalling its long-term commitment to supporting digital inclusion and innovation across Africa.

Mark Straub, Co-founder and CEO of Smile ID, highlighted the potential impact:

“Synthetic identity fraud is costing African banks and lenders hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Partnering with Mastercard enables us to combat this threat while giving financial institutions and mobile wallets the confidence to onboard the next 300 million African users—securely, and in seconds.”

Through this partnership, Mastercard’s ecosystem of banks, fintechs, telecom operators, and mobile money providerswill gain access to Smile ID’s verification solutions, fully integrated into Mastercard’s platforms. Leveraging Smile ID’s partnerships with local governments and trusted data sources, the system offers near real-time onboarding with pan-African coverage.

Mastercard noted that the collaboration builds on its decades-long presence in Africa, where it continues to work with governments, businesses, and communities to drive financial inclusion and economic development.