AXIAN Group has unveiled its new identity for its fintech arm: AXIAN Digibank & Fintech, a move aimed at evolving from basic mobile wallets into a full-suite digital bank for consumers and SMEs.
With powerhouse brands such as MVola (Madagascar’s dominant mobile-money platform) and Mixx by Yas now consolidated under a single banner, AXIAN already handles millions of monthly transactions for nearly 500,000 merchants and sees a path to millions more by 2030 through SME restocking credit, merchant tools, and embedded financial services.
On a continent where cash still drives 80% of daily retail payments, this rebrand signals AXIAN’s intent to loosen its grip by combining payments, savings, insurance, FX and SME lending into a unified digital bank, unlocking what analysts see as a $150 billion opportunity in underserved financial rails. Far from rebadging, this is AXIAN’s bid to define Africa’s next chapter of financial inclusion.
The Trailblazers
AXIAN Group, founded in Madagascar in 1971 and repositioned under its current brand in 2015, has grown into a $2-billion-plus revenue conglomerate operating across telecoms, energy, finance, and logistics in more than 15 African markets.
Its fintech cluster had long been a portfolio of country-specific plays; the new Digibank & Fintech identity unifies these assets, creating a pan-regional platform operating in Madagascar, Comoros, Senegal, Tanzania and Togo.
MVola alone, used by over 10 million people, or nearly 70% of Madagascar’s adults, anchors this digital universe. Mixx by Yas, integrated after a 2024 telecoms rebrand, supplies cross-market distribution rails and data.
The shift reflects broader market pressures. Mobile money, once the final frontier, is no longer enough. African consumers want bank-grade services, SMEs want credit that goes beyond micro-loans, and inflation has pushed savers toward digital accounts yielding 5–8% returns.
Meanwhile, AXIAN’s $600 million bond raise in June 2025 for digital infrastructure provides both the capital and confidence for a more ambitious financial-services push. As CEO Erwan Gelebart put it:
“With AXIAN Digibank & Fintech, mobile money evolves into full digital banking. This is about giving millions of Africans affordable access to the financial tools they need to grow.”
The mission: turn payments into platforms, data into credit, and mobile wallets into wealth-building engines.
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The New Blueprint: From Wallets to Wealth-Building Suites
Digibank & Fintech is engineering a deeper stack: AI-driven credit scoring, merchant tools, embedded insurance, high-yield savings, and low-cost cross-border payments.
MVola’s 1 billion-plus monthly transactions become raw material for risk models that can unlock structured SME credit, while telecom synergies help reduce customer-acquisition costs that doom many digital lenders.
| Legacy Offering | Digibank Evolution | Projected Edge |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile wallets (MVola/Mixx) | Integrated digital accounts with higher limits | 20–30% savings uptake; 500K+ new users (Q1 2026) |
| Short-term credit | Structured SME loans up to $50K for 6–12 months | Lower NPLs via ML scoring; tap $50B SME gap |
| Payments | Cross-border & merchant QR with low-fee tiers | 1M+ merchants; remittance costs cut sharply |
| Add-ons | Insurance bundles & micro-investments | Retention boost above 60%; $100M AUM by 2027 |
The goal is simple: deepen usage among existing millions while capturing Africa’s fast-formalising youth economy.
No new capital has been announced specifically for the rebrand, but AXIAN is actively exploring strategic alliances with global payment networks and African fintech operators to plug into technologies without ballooning its burn.
Power Players
To execute this shift, particularly on the credit side, where emerging-market NPLs run 10–15%, AXIAN assembled a board stacked with global fintech talent and regulatory gravitas:
| Expert | Background | Strategic Value |
|---|---|---|
| Georg Hauer | Former N26 executive | Scaled digital banking operations to millions of users |
| Brad Jones | Mobile-money veteran (ex–M-Pesa) | Deep regulatory navigation and operational scale in low-infrastructure markets |
| Henri Rabarijohn | Former Madagascar central bank governor | Regulatory clout for capital-intensive banking and risk oversight |
Gelebart called their arrival “a critical step in building the region’s most trusted digital bank,” while Hauer noted that “Africa is on the cusp of its second fintech revolution.”
Their collective experience signals AXIAN’s intention to pursue regulated bank licences in multiple markets, yet with a model adapted to African realities.
The Horizon: Digital Banking for Africa’s Everyday Hustle
AXIAN’s rebrand to Digibank & Fintech is more than a name change; it is a bid to define Africa’s next financial chapter.
By fusing telecom reach, mobile-money adoption, and new credit and investment tools, AXIAN aims to serve over 50 million users by 2030, capture $10 billion+ in flows, and finance the continent’s SME backbone, which accounts for 80% of jobs.
AXIAN Group: Key Corporate and Investor Information
The Axian Group subsidiaries list spans telecoms, energy, financial services, open innovation, and real estate, all coordinated from the AXIAN Group head office in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Within its telecom portfolio, AXIAN Telecom Holding and Management Ltd oversees multi-country operations and reports regularly through the Axian Telecom ANNUAL REPORT, which outlines performance, strategy, and market expansion.
Investors tracking the company can explore updates via AXIAN Telecom investor relations, including disclosures on Axian telecom bonds issued to support network growth across Africa and the Indian Ocean region.
Ronnie Paul is a seasoned writer and analyst with a prolific portfolio of over 1,000 published articles, specialising in fintech, cryptocurrency, climate change, and digital finance at Africa Digest News.
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