For decades, credit meant a personal loan, a credit card, a formal repayment plan, or even an “informal” loan from a third party at high interest rates.  

Today, credit has become something else entirely: a capability that can operate inside digital ecosystems. 

The global embedded finance market is projected to reach US$356.8 billion by 2032. In addition, the micro-lending industry is expected to hit US$489 billion in 2033.  

These numbers show that credit is shifting, becoming a huge part of how people transact, pay, and stay connected. It is becoming an integrated infrastructure layer that supports daily life, much like payments or connectivity, appearing inside wallets, telecom channels, and digital platforms. Credit is most powerful when it works in the background, enabling convenience, instant access, and resilience without adding friction. 

How credit integrates into daily life 

Across emerging markets, small, short-term credit has become a practical tool. Parents spread school fees over several months. Families use pay-later options to keep electricity or mobile data active. Micro-retailers or even farmers use short-term working capital to restock goods, buy seed or bridge quieter trading periods.  

These patterns reflect a wider reality around the world, specifically in underdeveloped geographies. Formal credit access remains low in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, where only around 12 percent of adults borrowed formally in 2024. As a result, digital ecosystems are filling this space, embedding credit where customers already transact. Asia Pacific, being the largest microlending region, is driven by favourable government policies and mobile-related financial behaviour. Loans increasingly function as part of day-to-day financial management rather than separate financial products. 

In practice, this evolution is less about consumption and more about continuity. Credit helps people maintain essential services and income activities when liquidity is tight. 

Credit within ecosystems: Orange Money 

In Botswana, Orange Money, a digital mobile wallet provider working with Ezra, provides users access to short-term liquidity directly within the mobile wallet. Customers do not have to complete new applications, submit onerous paperwork, or navigate additional onboarding processes. Instead, credit is available only when relevant or in times of need and settles automatically on a pre-determined due date.  

The significance lies in integration. Credit becomes part of the customer’s existing digital journey, not an external service. 

The shift toward credit as infrastructure 

Credit is increasingly operating like an extension of the digital infrastructure, supporting payments, connectivity and commercial activity. Several developments are driving this change. 

• Liquidity delivered within the journey: Small, dynamic credit available at the moment it is needed. 

• Behaviour-led assessment: Real-time activity patterns improving risk and affordability accuracy for customers without formal credit histories. 

• Credit integrated via APIs, not forms: Frictionless “real-time” experience that bypasses traditional hassles such as branching journeys or manual checks 

Platforms like Ezra support this transition by connecting regulated lenders with large-scale digital channels. This ensures credit is embedded responsibly, governed effectively, and able to operate at high transaction volumes. 

Looking ahead: building the digital credit fabric 

The next phase will involve scaling this infrastructure responsibly, with a focus on protection, responsible lending, transparency, predictable performance, and more product choices. 

Key elements will shape this evolution: 

• Risk models that adjust to real-time signals or triggers. 

• Collaboration between banks, telcos, and fintech partners. 

• Credit journeys that are simple, consistent, informative, transparent, and governed. 

As embedded credit deepens across industries, the focus will be on supporting customers more directly and more frequently. Ezra’s role is to help partners build this fabric in a way that is reliable and sustainable and allows local regulators to evolve regulation in line with the embedded credit advancements. 

What this means for banks, telcos and ecosystem partners 

Banks can expand their reach through embedded channels without needing to rebuild infrastructure or in the absence of risk and affordability data. API-led partnerships and leveraging alternate data enable faster market entry, with regulated oversight remaining firmly with the institution. 

For telcos and digital wallets, customer activity, such as top-ups, payments, and renewals, can become inputs for personalised credit. This creates value without disrupting the core service or changing how customers use it. 

In the fintech and ecosystem platform industries, partnering with infrastructure providers reduces development time and offers access to proven credit workflows, behavioural models, risk management expertise, multi-product access and operational capability. 

Now is the time for organisations to embed credit seamlessly, responsibly and at scale. As this shift accelerates, Ezra supports partners by providing the connective infrastructure that links regulated finance with daily digital life. 

To discuss how embedded credit can support your organisation’s strategy, reach out to us.