Furthering its ambitions to displace cash in emerging markets, Mastercard has acquired mobile payments technology company Oltio from South Africa's Standard Bank.
Founded in 2011 as a joint venture between Standard Bank and airtime operator MTN, Oltio's technology is currently used to authenticate Masterpass digital wallet purchases in South Africa using a consumer's bank PIN and mobile phone.
The acquisition will enable Mastercard to further lean on Oltio's platform for the provision to member banks of person-to-person payments, bill payments, and airtime top-ups, which can be integrated into existing mobile banking applications.
Andrew Wilmot, executive, group card and rmerging payments for Standard Bank, says: "We have had a great relationship with Mastercard over the years, and believe that Oltio will thrive as part of an issuer-independent payments company with Mastercard's vast global resources and innovative technology."
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.