Mastercard and Smile ID to Offer Digital Identity Solutions Across Africa

Mastercard and Smile ID plan to accelerate the rollout of secure digital identity solutions across Africa to enable enterprises to onboard new customers faster.

The companies have extended their commercial partnership and will offer solutions that combine Mastercard’s global insights and Identity technology with Smile ID’s data verification and fraud detection capabilities, according to a Thursday (Sept. 25) press release.

Smile ID’s capabilities are powered in part by its integrations with local governments and trusted data sources, according to the release.

The solutions created by this partnership will help enterprises like banks, FinTechs, mobile money operators and telecom operators in Africa reduce identity fraud, expand access to the financial system, and comply with know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, the release said.

The companies’ extended partnership also includes Mastercard making a minority investment in Smile ID, per the release.

“As fragmented identity systems slow down businesses and lock millions out of the digital economy, Smile ID’s innovative identity platform complements Mastercard’s commitment to fostering secure and inclusive digital ecosystems,” Selin Bahadirli, executive vice president, services, Mastercard EEMEA, said in the release.

Smile ID CEO Mark Straub said in the release that a surge in synthetic identity fraud in Africa has cost banks and lenders hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

“By joining forces with Mastercard, we can help turn the tide,” Straub said. “As we combine insights and technologies, we can expand opportunities for consumers by giving banks and mobile wallets the confidence to onboard the next 300 million African users securely, in seconds.”

Mastercard and Smile ID announced an earlier collaboration in September 2024, when they said they teamed up to accelerate merchant onboarding in Africa.

At that time, Mastercard began providing Smile ID with its Merchant Digital Onboarding Program across Africa. The companies said the integration enables acquiring partners to digitally onboard merchants in more than 50 African countries in three minutes or less.

In April 2023, Smile ID, which was then known as Smile Identity, acquired Appruve to expand its digital identity verification solution across Africa.

In February, the company partnered with Plumery, a provider of digital banking experience systems, to help financial institutions in Africa accelerate their digital transformation and reinforce their secure customer authentication.