M-PESA Ethiopia has announced the completion of its integration with EthSwitch, Ethiopia’s national payment network, in a significant move to deepen financial interoperability in the country.
The integration is a major step for the mobile money service, which launched in Ethiopia in August 2023. According to the latest data, M-PESA has rapidly grown to 3.4 million active users in the country. The platform, which has onboarded over 30,700 merchants, processed 12.3 billion birr in transactions in the six months leading up to November 2025.
This new partnership with EthSwitch connects M-PESA’s growing user base with 15 banks and other mobile wallets, with more financial institutions expected to join.
The integration creates a fully interoperable system, breaking down barriers between mobile wallets and traditional bank accounts. M-PESA Ethiopia explained that its customers can now send money directly from their wallets to any bank account linked to the EthSwitch network. They are also able to make payments to any merchants using bank-issued EthQR codes.
The interoperability is a two-way street. The company noted that customers of the 15 partner banks, even those without an M-PESA account, can now send money from their mobile banking apps directly to any M-PESA wallet. Bank customers can also pay M-PESA merchants by scanning M-PESA’s EthQR codes through their own banking apps.
The announcement confirmed the entire service is powered by EthSwitch’s secure national infrastructure, which ensures that all transactions are processed in real-time and remain compliant with national financial standards.
Partners in the initial rollout include major institutions such as the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, CBE Birr, Awash Bank, Amhara Bank, Cooperative Bank of Oromia, and Zemen Bank, among ten others.
In its statement, M-PESA Ethiopia said the milestone moves the country closer to a connected, inclusive financial ecosystem. The company highlighted its goal of enabling “everyone, everywhere in Ethiopia to transact seamlessly, securely, and conveniently.”
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