Mukuru has joined forces with banking technology provider JUMO to roll out Fast Loan, a new AI powered credit product for South African consumers. The mobile first solution is designed to extend fair and responsible access to short term credit to people who are largely excluded from traditional banking. By combining Mukuru’s customer network with JUMO’s AI infrastructure, the two companies aim to plug a persistent gap in the country’s financial system.
Addressing South Africa’s Credit Gap
A significant share of South Africa’s population still operates outside the formal credit system, despite being economically active. Many people earn irregular incomes, lack conventional credit histories, and face structural barriers when trying to access mainstream financial products. Fast Loan is positioned as a targeted response to this exclusion, offering a structured pathway into formal credit for millions of underbanked consumers.
How Fast Loan Works
Fast Loan is built as a scalable, mobile first product that integrates directly into Mukuru’s existing customer journey. Customers can apply via WhatsApp, receive an instant decision, and have funds disbursed directly onto their Mukuru Card. Loan sizes range from R100 to R8,000, with a 30 day repayment term that aligns with typical income cycles in the informal and semi formal economy.
Flexible Access and Usage of Funds
Once disbursed, funds are immediately available across Mukuru’s digital ecosystem and broader payment network. Customers can use their Mukuru Card for in store purchases at point of sale, online ecommerce transactions, or to pay for a wide range of value added services offered by Mukuru. Cash withdrawals are also possible at ATMs or at more than 11,000 retail partner locations, including major chains such as Spar, Pick ’n Pay, Boxer, and Shoprite.
Transparent Pricing and Responsible Design
The pricing structure for Fast Loan is clearly defined to support affordability and transparency. Customers pay an 11.5 percent initiation fee and interest in arrears, set at 5 percent for first time borrowers and 3 percent for subsequent loans, with penalties capped to avoid runaway debt. Borrowers who repay early do not incur interest charges, an approach that rewards responsible behavior and helps prevent over indebtedness among new entrants to formal credit.
AI Infrastructure and Ethical Safeguards
Fast Loan runs on JUMO’s banking as a service platform, which provides plug and play infrastructure for data driven financial products. JUMO’s technology uses alternative data and AI models to assess risk, allowing viable customers without traditional credit files to be scored and served at scale. The company’s ethical lending framework has been independently certified, achieving a 92.2 percent rating in the Cerise + SPTF Customer Protection Certification, one of the strongest scores in the industry.
Building Formal Credit Histories
Every Fast Loan issued is reported to credit bureaus, linking customers’ repayment behavior to formal financial records. This approach allows users who were previously invisible to the system to gradually build a credit profile, improving their eligibility for future financial products. Over time, this can unlock broader economic participation, from access to larger loans to more sophisticated banking services.
Strategic Alignment Between Mukuru and JUMO
Mukuru’s Group CEO, Andy Jury, emphasized that Fast Loan is grounded in years of engagement with South Africa’s informal economy and a detailed understanding of how customers earn, spend, and manage financial pressure. He highlighted that partnering with JUMO enables Mukuru to scale responsibly, blending customer trust, technology, and data insights into one offering. JUMO founder and CEO Andrew Watkins Ball underlined the company’s commitment to powering Mukuru’s products with robust infrastructure, noting that Mukuru already serves millions of customers who depend on its services.
Beyond immediate access to credit, Fast Loan is expected to generate rich data on borrowing behavior, repayment patterns, and customer needs across different income segments. These insights will inform future enhancements such as longer tenors, larger ticket sizes, and more flexible repayment options tailored to customers’ realities. With Mukuru’s reach and JUMO’s AI driven infrastructure, the partnership aims to set a new benchmark for responsible digital credit in South Africa’s evolving financial landscape.