Mastercard and Scale Partner to Simplify Card Issuance for Fintechs Across Sub-Saharan Africa

On March 31, 2026, Mastercard and Scale announced a collaboration aimed at advancing card issuance enablement for fintechs and non-financial institutions across Sub-Saharan Africa. The partnership spans five markets: Senegal, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Scale provides the underlying issuing infrastructure and regulatory support, while Mastercard contributes access to its global payment network via a unified integration model that functions as a sponsor bank program.

The initiative builds on a previous 2024 announcement between the two companies and is designed to streamline onboarding, processing, and compliance for fintechs that would otherwise need to independently secure BIN sponsors and issuing bank relationships. By lowering these barriers, the partnership enables faster launches of virtual and physical card programs across the region. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The move signals growing BaaS-style infrastructure buildout in African markets, where demand for embedded card issuance is rising among non-bank technology companies.