Just a year into his job, MTN has announced that Bradwin Roper will step down from his role as CEO for financial technology at its SA unit with effect from November.
On Tuesday, MTN’s SA unit said Roper, a former CEO of FNB mobile division, would be leaving the company “to explore a new opportunity”. The company said that in line with its executive notice period, Roper would exit at the end of October.
Roper joined MTN in May 2023 and played a key role in the growth of the company’s fintech division. Under his leadership, MTN SA grew its fintech user base, taking aim at banks by cancelling transaction fees for digital goods, launching a cross-border remittance service and extending loans to small business.
Most recently, MTN SA, in partnership with Investec and Electrum, has become the first nonbanking company to join the PayShap digital payments platform through its MoMo mobile money unit.
In a statement, Charles Molapisi, CEO of MTN SA, said: “We are grateful for his dedicated service and wish him the very best in his future endeavours as we work to continue advancing fintech innovation in SA.”
Recruitment for Roper’s replacement was under way, the company said.
MTN has expanded its financial services unit rapidly in recently years as a way to guard against falling revenues in its legacy businesses such as voice.
On Tuesday, the group reported that fintech revenue increased 11.4%, or 25% in constant currency terms, for the first quarter to March.
Active monthly mobile money users grew 6.2% to 65.5-million, while fintech transaction volumes increased 18.3% to 4.8-billion and transaction value was up 11.2% to $72.3bn.
In January, payments giant Mastercard invested R3.8bn in MTN’s fintech business as part of a plan to partner with industry experts that will help grow the new revenue line. The transaction values the unit at $5.2bn (about R100bn), indicating a 3.8% stake.
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