Port Vila, Vanuatu – 8 April 2025 – ANZ Vanuatu has successfully integrated with Vodafone Vanuatu’s M-Vatu mobile money platform, creating a seamless banking experience for customers across Vanuatu. This strategic partnership connects traditional banking services with the country’s popular mobile payment system, allowing customers to transfer funds directly between their ANZ accounts and M-Vatu digital wallets.
The integration addresses a key market need by bridging formal banking with accessible mobile money solutions, particularly beneficial for customers in remote areas with limited branch access. Users can now perform instant transfers, check balances, and manage finances through either platform without additional fees or lengthy processing times. This integration utilizes ANZ’s international payment gateway system which provides increased security for customers.
ANZ Vanuatu’s Country Head emphasised that this collaboration represents a significant step in their digital transformation journey and commitment to financial inclusion throughout the country.
This initiative directly implements Measure 5.2.1 of the Pacific Regional E-commerce Strategy and Roadmap and is a direct results of Central Banks’ efforts that can be observed in the following program page: Improving interoperability between payment service providers at national level.
As Measure 5.2.1 points out, Many Pacific consumers and businesses face high fees when making or receiving digital payments. This is mainly because payment providers, such as banks and mobile operators, do not yet integrate their services. As a result, some payment methods cannot be used, making e-commerce harder. Because banks and mobile operators have each been building their own systems separately, costs are high and reach is low. But things are starting to change. Some Pacific countries (Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu) are now developing national systems to connect all payment providers in one place, allowing payments to happen instantly and across platforms.
