Carbon transforms into a full-service bank on Mambu

By Edlyn Cardoza

Carbon Finance, a Pan-African microfinance bank, announced it has extended its partnership with Mambu to continue growing its financial services offering and accelerate expansion. The agreement enables Carbon to offer the full spectrum of banking products and services and launch Carbon Zero, its new ‘Buy now, pay later’ (BNPL) product.

Founded in 2012, Carbon is a long-standing customer of Mambu that began as a lending platform in Nigeria. Geared for future expansion from launch, Carbon selected Mambu’s cloud-native banking platform for the ability to scale and flexibility to disburse instant loans in minutes, helping the lender build credibility in the market.

“We engaged Mambu a decade ago because it ticked all the boxes as a cloud banking platform. We were looking for great customer service and a robust cloud-native platform,” said Chijioke Dozie, CEO of Carbon Finance. “Combining Mambu with our architecture allows us to continue scaling and make a real difference to the lives of our customers. We see a future where modern banking experiences are accessible to all, and this further collaboration with Mambu takes us one step closer to that vision.”

In 2020 Carbon received a banking license and kicked off rapid evolution into a full-service, customer-centric bank. Mambu’s API-enabled composable technology allowed Carbon to build daily banking services and e-wallets through partner integrations. Today the microfinance bank offers a zero-fee account, instant loans, free money transfers, savings, and investment options at market-leading rates, and simplifies payments like airtime and bill payments.

Peter Richmond, VP of Customer Success at Mambu, said, “Carbon is a long-standing and valued customer. Teaming up with our platform solves real pain points and empowers Carbon to offer modern banking experiences to its customers. We look forward to strengthening our partnership and helping Carbon as it expands its product offering.”

The capability to innovate at speed and introduce new products and features quickly is a competitive advantage for Carbon. With the growing demand for split payment options among consumers, the bank launched its new BNPL product Carbon Zero to help customers get products and services in healthcare, finance, travel, and wellness.

“Our initial implementation of Mambu was quick and took only a month to fully integrate the cloud platform into our processes. Since then, we have extended our use of Mambu, and rolling out new products and services typically is just a matter of a few hours at most,” said Ikenna Okwukaogu, VP of Engineering of Carbon Finance. 

Recently, IBS Intelligence reported that OKEO had announced their successful go-live on Mambu. OKEO helps customers save time and money by providing access to modern and professional banking services.