Payment methods in Tanzania
94% of Tanzanians use mobile money, making it the backbone of the country's financial system.
Market takeaways
- 94% of Tanzanians use mobile money, making it the backbone of the country's financial system.
- M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa, Airtel Money, and Halotel Halopesa operate on a fully interoperable network.
- USSD dominates at ~77% of market transaction volume due to widespread feature phone usage.
- The number of merchants accepting digital payments more than doubled in 2024, from 657,346 to 1.33 million.
- Digital credit grew 32% and digital savings tripled in 2025.
Population
~65M
Online population
~25M
Banked population
~65% (incl. mobile money)
Mobile Money Penetration
~94% of adults
Credit card population
~2%
Payment method breakdown
- Mobile Money70%
- Cash25%
- Card3%
- Bank Transfer1%
- Other1%
Card scheme breakdown
- Visa60%
- Mastercard38%
- Local Schemes2%
- Other0%
Cross-border e-commerce
Market data coming soon.
Featured payment methods in Tanzania
Popular options based on coverage and prominence in this market.
Mixx by Yas (formerly Tigo Pesa)
Mixx by Yas is the mobile-money service in Tanzania formerly known as Tigo Pesa. Following Axian Telecom's takeover, Tigo Tanzania rebranded to Yas and Tigo Pesa became Mixx by Yas in November 2024, offering transfers, payments, loans and savings.
Airtel Money
Airtel Money is Kenya's second-largest mobile money provider, holding approximately 6.6% market share as of 2024 (up from 2.8%). It operates similarly to M-Pesa and enables money transfers, bill payments, and merchant payments via USSD and the Airtel Money app.
M-Pesa
M-Pesa is Kenya's transformative mobile money service, launched by Safaricom in 2007. It enables users to send money, pay bills, buy goods, and access financial services via a basic mobile phone — no smartphone or bank account required. With over 30 million active users and 93% market share in Kenyan mobile money, M-Pesa is the default payment method for a large portion of the population and is deeply integrated into e-commerce via the Daraja API and third-party gateways like Flutterwave and Pesapal.
Tingg
Tingg is Cellulant's consumer payments app and checkout that aggregates mobile money, cards and bank rails across eight African markets. Operator: Cellulant Corporation. Est. users: Large pan-African user base (2024).
Chipper Cash
Chipper Cash is a pan-African wallet for free cross-border transfers, bill pay, virtual cards and online payments across seven markets. Operator: Chipper Technologies Inc. Est. users: 7M+ users (2024).
Selcom Pay
Selcom Pay is Tanzania's largest payments platform offering wallet, QR and Pay-by-Link options for online and in-store consumer payments. Operator: Selcom (Selcom Microfinance Bank). Est. users: Thousands of merchants; broad user base (2024).
All payment methods in Tanzania
Discover 7 payment methods from around the world
Featured banks in Tanzania
Major institutions operating in this market.
Firstrand (FNB / RMB / WesBank)
Johannesburg, South Africa
FirstRand is South Africa's second-largest banking group, comprising FNB (retail/SME), RMB (investment banking), and WesBank (vehicle finance).
Standard Bank South Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa
Standard Bank is Africa's largest bank by assets, offering retail, SME, corporate, investment, and private banking across 20 African countries.
Absa Group South Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa
Absa (formerly Barclays Africa) is South Africa's fourth-largest bank, offering retail, SME, corporate, and investment banking across Africa.
GTBank (Guaranty Trust Holding)
Lagos, Nigeria
GTBank (now GTCO Holdings) is one of Nigeria's leading banks, known for digital innovation and strong retail and corporate banking.
Access Bank Nigeria
Lagos, Nigeria
Access Bank is Nigeria's largest bank by customer base, following its merger with Diamond Bank, offering retail, SME, and corporate banking across Africa.
KCB Group Kenya
Nairobi, Kenya
KCB (Kenya Commercial Bank) Group is East Africa's largest bank by total assets, with operations in 7 East African countries.