PawaPay, a leading pan‑African payments aggregator, has entered a strategic partnership with Deriv, a global online trading platform, to expand mobile money deposit services across multiple African countries, enabling millions of users to fund accounts using payment methods they already use daily. The collaboration, which first went live in 2025 and is now extending its reach, reflects both companies’ commitment to improving digital financial access in Africa’s mobile‑centric economies and is already showing measurable results in transaction adoption and reliability.
Mobile money remains Africa’s most widely used digital financial tool, with wallets such as M‑Pesa, MTN Mobile Money, Airtel Money and Orange Money deeply embedded in daily commerce and personal finance throughout the continent. Yet the payment landscapes across African markets are highly fragmented, with different regulatory frameworks, operator standards and technical systems making it challenging for international platforms to integrate mobile money consistently across multiple countries. By partnering with PawaPay, Deriv gains a single, compliant integration point that provides reliable connectivity to major mobile network operators and harmonises payment flows across participating markets.
Under the agreement, PawaPay’s unified payments infrastructure connects Deriv to mobile money services in eight African markets. Through this connection, Deriv users can now deposit funds into their trading accounts using local mobile money wallets without needing to switch payment systems or use intermediaries. This integration helps reduce friction, cut down failed transactions and ensure more predictable settlement cycles, all of which are essential for broader trust and adoption of digital financial services in fast‑growing markets.
PawaPay’s role in this partnership goes beyond merely enabling payment connectivity; the company also handles critical operational elements such as payment processing, settlement, foreign exchange (FX) handling and reconciliation, ensuring the complete flow from customer wallet to the end platform is seamless and compliant with local regulations. This is important because each African country’s payment environment can differ significantly, requiring deep local expertise and infrastructure to manage funds effectively at scale.
According to statements from PawaPay’s leadership, mobile money is already “deeply embedded in how people transact across Africa,” and the core challenge for companies expanding across multiple markets is ensuring payments remain reliable once transaction volumes grow. PawaPay’s platform is designed to keep payment flows predictable and dependable, freeing Deriv to focus on customer experience and service innovation rather than managing complex payment systems across diverse jurisdictions.
Deriv chose PawaPay as its payments partner precisely because of the aggregator’s ability to manage local payment connectivity with reliability and compliance. The partnership helps Deriv access markets that were previously difficult to serve due to payment fragmentation and regulatory variance, unlocking opportunities for growth and financial inclusion. Since the integration launched, Deriv has seen mobile money deposits rise in the countries where the service is live, supported by joint launch campaigns and education efforts that have helped customers understand how to use mobile money for funding their accounts.
For African consumers, the ability to deposit funds through mobile money is more than a convenience — it represents a critical step toward broader financial participation. Many users, especially in regions with limited access to traditional banking infrastructure, rely on mobile wallets for most financial transactions, from paying bills and sending money to saving and investing. Offering dependable mobile money deposit options expands access to digital platforms like Deriv, allowing everyday users to engage with global services using familiar and trusted payment methods.
The partnership also highlights the evolving role of fintech infrastructure providers in Africa. Aggregators such as PawaPay are increasingly essential for global platforms looking to enter or scale in African markets without building proprietary connections to local payment networks from scratch. By consolidating hundreds of operator connections into a single integration, PawaPay simplifies market entry while ensuring compliance with local requirements and maintaining robust performance under high‑volume conditions.
Beyond mobile money deposits, PawaPay’s broader services already cover connectivity across roughly 20 African markets, offering a suite of tools that businesses can use to collect and send payments, manage FX and handle settlements in both local and global currencies. This expansive infrastructure positions PawaPay as a critical partner for companies seeking to unlock Africa’s rapidly expanding digital economy, which continues to grow in transaction volume and the number of mobile wallet users.
The PawaPay‑Deriv partnership exemplifies how strategic collaborations can bridge the gap between global fintech platforms and African payment ecosystems, delivering locally relevant solutions while encouraging digital financial inclusion. As the integration continues to expand beyond the initial eight markets, both companies are expected to unlock further opportunities and drive adoption of mobile money deposits for broader services and industries across the continent.
PayPal downplays acquisition speculation amid Stripe rumors