East-Asia-based card technology firm SanuPay has partnered with OpenWay to introduce a domestic credit card in Ethiopia.
The launch marks a significant shift towards digital financial infrastructure in the country. SanuPay, together with OpenWay and SantimPay, a licensed payment system operator, aims to issue 4 million debit and prepaid cards, and thousands of Visa and Mastercard credit cards on OpenWay’s Way4 digital payments software platform. The platform supports issuing, acquiring, switching, and mobile wallet solutions.
Supporting Africa’s digital development
OpenWay’s Way4 has gained popularity in Africa as it got adopted by institutions such as Equity Bank for its custom development, which allows clients to move fast in volatile or fast-evolving markets. While mobile wallets had a surge in adoption on the continent, credit card adoption slowed down due to limited infrastructure and regulations. Ethiopia’s entry into domestic credit issuance could mean a policy and technological shift, promoting greater financial access.
Besides card issuance, SanuPay will operate thousands of POS terminals and 200 ATMs across the country running on Way4. The domestic credit cards will be issued by Oromia Bank, which plans to offer a co-branded loyalty card partnership with Sheba Miles. The company will scale its model regionally, demonstrating how fintechs partnering with global infrastructure providers can contribute to Africa’s payment ecosystem development.
SanuPay aims to expand beyond Ethiopia, partnering with regional banks and fintechs in Kenya to digitalise care processing, international payments, and remittances by integrating with local and global payment schemes. Additionally, in Rwanda, the company supports emerging fintechs in issuing virtual cards, enabling tokenisation, offering digital wallets, and integrating mobile payments.
SanuPay believes that the alliance with OpenWay is a first step towards enabling Ethiopia to issue cards and build a compliant infrastructure to support Africa’s digital transformation. OpenWay shares the sentiment, saying that the partnership reflects its commitment to contributing to innovative financial institutions across the continent.
