This year, the Mozambique government is intensifying efforts to promote fintech growth, announcing national strategies, partnerships, and new initiatives aimed at leveraging digital platforms and mobile technology to improve financial access and drive social and economical progress.

Mozambique rolled out the National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2025-2031 in August 2025, aiming to expand financial access through the use of digital financial services, improve efficiencies in the financial system, enhance financial literacy, and strengthen consumer protection and trust.

This second edition of the strategy builds on its predecessors by expanding the focus beyond traditional banking services to include the digitalization of financial services and the promotion of green finance.

Implementation will take place in two phases, with the first phase running from 2025 to 2027 and prioritizing expanding access, improving data protection, enhancing digital security, as well as the launch of the National Financial Literacy Program.

The Mozambique central bank is also teaming up for industry stakeholder to bridge the financing gap for critical segments of the economy. Earlier this month, the Banco de Moçambique (BM) rolled out the Innovative Financing for Agribusiness Project (FINOVA), a project led by Ministry of Planning and Development (MPD), with support from the German government.

The initiative aims to expand access to affordable agricultural credit through an agricultural credit line worth EUR 33.5 million from Germany via the German Development Bank (KfW), including EUR 20 million for working capital loans, and EUR 13.5 million for investment capital.

Mozambique is also advancing regulatory reforms to support fintech development. The government is currently drafting a decree on “participation finance”, aiming to establish a clear legal framework for alternative financing models.

Financial inclusion progress

Access to finance has improved significantly over the past years, driven by the rapid growth of non-banking agents. These agents have played a key role in providing financial services to populations not covered or insufficiently covered by the traditional banking system.

Between 2015 and 2023, the number of non-banking agents surged 1,158.5% to surpass the coverage of formal banking channels and reach 224,704 agents. By the end of 2023, Mozambique had 1,246 non-banking agents per 100,000 adults, compared to 5.6 bank agents, 4.1 branches, and 8.2 ATMs per 100,000 adults.

Mobile money has also been a major driver of financial inclusion, successfully reaching remote and underserved communities. While money mobile services were virtually non-existent in 2009, penetration exceeded 100% of the population by the end of 2024, data from BM show. In comparison, bank account ownership grew much more moderately, rising from 12.5% of the population in 2009 to 33% at the end of 2024.

Mobile money now exceeds 12 million active accounts across M-Pesa, M-Kesh, and E-Mola, according to BM’s September 2025 Financial Inclusion Newsletter. M-Pesa, Kenya’s leading mobile money service which launched in Mozambique in 2013, leads the market, with over 6 million active users and 54,000 agents.

Key government initiatives

Government programs have helped drive inclusion. Major initiatives include the “One District, One Bank” project, which aims to accelerate banking penetration in rural areas by establishing at least one bank branch in each unbanked district of the country.

Another key initiative is the Innovation Hub, which was set up to bring together fintech startups, companies, regulators, financial service providers and technology experts, to exchange knowledge, promote collaboration and accelerate the development of fintech.

Another prominent initiative is the Regulatory Sandbox, a regime established in 2018 by BM that allows fintech companies to test innovative solutions in a regulated environment. Since its inception, the sandbox has fostered innovation across a broad range of verticals, including payment technology, electronic know-your-customer (eKYC), and crowdfunding. It’s now hosting its sixth edition, welcoming in March 11 fintech companies testing solutions making use of technologies including blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) for digital payments, credit, savings, financial education, and identification.

The growth of fintech

This landscape has fueled the rise of a dynamic fintech ecosystem. Roscas, for example, is a homegrown fintech startup that’s digitizing traditional savings groups, catering to the unique needs of the informal sector. The company targets individuals historically excluded from formal financial systems, providing them with access to welfare products, such as insurance, capitalized savings, and loans. Roscas secured last year investment from Renew Capital, an Africa-focused impact investment firm.

Mozambique is also attracting a growing number of regional players seeking an early foothold in the country’s nascent fintech industry. Kuunda, a fast-growing business-to-business (B2B) digital lending-as-a-service company from South Africa, recently launched in Mozambique and Kenya. The startup provides overdraft and working-capital solutions across Africa, partnering with mobile money operators, point-of-sale (POS) network providers, e-commerce players and banks, to embed credit products into existing digital platforms. It leverages data-driven credit scoring to provide financing to mobile money agents, merchants, and consumers.

Kuunda, which has already facilitated over US$3 billion in loans and currently helps disburse more than US$100 million in credit monthly to two million users, secured a US$7.5 million pre-Series A funding round earlier this month to accelerate its growth across Africa and the Middle East.

Flutterwave, a Nigerian-founded fintech unicorn, is another regional fintech firm that recently entered the market, obtaining last year a payment aggregator license in principle. Flutterwave is a leading payments technology company that enables businesses to process local and cross-border transactions via one application programming interface (API).

Flutterwave has processed over 890 million transactions in excess of USD US$34 billion, serving global and African customers like Uber, Air Peace, Bamboo, and PiggyVest. It has an infrastructure reach in 34 African countries.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Middle East, based on image by Wagner France 3D Design, user850788 and wirestock via Freepik