Lesotho

The internet penetration rate is 52% (2022), and mobile phone connections represent 118% of the population in Lesotho.

In 2017, about 28% of adults did not have a bank account (p. 6). As of 2018, there was no interoperability (p. 8) between mobile wallets and banks, but just over half the population used a mobile wallet service.

In 2018, the Central Bank of Lesotho set up a Financial Consumer Protection division to supervise the conduct of all financial institutions, as well as develop a regulatory framework for financial service providers.

In 2022, Vodacom Lesotho introduced a new digital payments system using an open API system with the pan-African mobile money company M-PESA’s payment system.