---
title: New partnership claims Africa’s first WhatsApp-enabled neo-bank - Developing Telecoms
description: Paymentology, a global issuer-processor, has announced a partnership with Chikwama Pay, a pan-African neobank providing accessible financial services through WhatsApp.
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date: 2026-03-11T16:08:07Z
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Paymentology, a global issuer-processor, has announced a partnership with Chikwama Pay, a pan-African neobank providing accessible financial services through WhatsApp.

Together, they say, they are powering Africa’s first WhatsApp-enabled neo-bank with fully integrated borderless payment processing, bringing secure, seamless, and affordable financial services to millions of underserved people across the Southern African Development Community (SADC), an intergovernmental organisation focused on promoting regional economic development, integration, peace and security among its 16 member states in Southern Africa.

Chikwama Pay explains that it is pioneering borderless banking across Africa by enabling customers to bank, borrow, insure, save and transact directly through WhatsApp, without the need for a separate app.

The platform focuses on migrant workers, informal traders, women who are often excluded from traditional financial services , and underserved communities who need reliable, low-cost access to cross-border financial services.

Through this partnership, Chikwama Pay will leverage Paymentology’s cloud-first issuing and processing platform to issue and process debit cards with real-time transaction management, and expand seamlessly across multiple SADC markets with local compliance and global scalability. The partners also aim to offer advanced payment features, including dynamic spend controls and multi-market operations.

As Alestair Mawoneke CEO at Chikwama Pay, explains: "Our mission is to remove the barriers of geography, cost, and complexity in African finance. With Paymentology’s global expertise and secure infrastructure, we can now scale faster, expand across borders, and provide truly borderless financial services to millions who have long been excluded."