MasterCard just announced that it is has completed the acquisition of South African based payment technology startup, Oltio. It bought the company from Standard Bank and is aiming to improve digital payment offerings in Africa and the Middle East.
South African startup, Oltio, has developed a string of patents, payments, banking solutions, and, importantly, an authentication technology. Oltio developed an authentication technology that validates Masterpass digital wallet transactions using a bank PIN and mobile phone.
MasterCard will leverage #Oltio’s technology, people and infrastructure to enhance and scale its existing suite of #digital solutions for merchants and issuers – in turn, enabling them to deliver more seamless payment experiences to the consumer #OltioAcquisition pic.twitter.com/3NolyvwIjw
— Mastercard MEA (@MastercardMEA) March 6, 2018
Leveraging Oltio’s technology, MasterCard will enhance its digital payments for merchants and issuers across Africa and the Middle East. It is looking to provide merchants and issuers optimised payment experience which would be beneficial to their business.
According to MasterCard Southern Africa Division President, Mark Elliot:
Too many consumers and merchants in the MEA region are stuck in a cash economy that doesn’t work for them. By combining our joint expertise, technologies and reach, we can bridge the divide between the region’s cash economies and the digital future, bringing the benefits of digital payments to more people and businesses.
MasterCard expects Merchants to also benefit from the new deal. The company said it will boost omni-channel acceptance solutions, allowing businesses of any size to accept digital payments. In addition, affordable technology such as Quick response (QR) codes will be used to collect payments.
Standard Bank Group was also excited about the acquisition, executive of Card and Emerging Payments, Andrew Wilmot said the bank shared that it has had a great relationship with MasterCard over the years. It hopes that:
Oltio will thrive as part of an issuer-independent payments company with Mastercard’s vast global resources and innovative technology.
With the deal, MasterCard issuers will enjoy new functionalities, such as person-to-person payments, bill payments, and airtime top-ups. These features can also be easily embedded into existing banking applications.