Mastercard Launches Africa Cybersecurity Center of Excellence to Help Secure the Continent's Digital Future

JOHANNESBURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 29, 2026--

Mastercard announced the launch of its Africa Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, a pan-African initiative designed to strengthen cyber resilience, enhance collaboration and help safeguard the trust that underpins Africa's expanding digital economy.

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The announcement was made during a visit to South Africa and Nigeria by Mastercard CEO, Michael Miebach, reflecting Mastercard's long-term commitment to supporting Africa's digital transformation by helping organizations anticipate, withstand and recover from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. The Cybersecurity Center of Excellence extends Mastercard’s expertise and network, bringing global competence and intelligence to one of the world's fastest-growing digital economies.

This initiative follows through on commitments made in recent discussions with the Nigerian Government in Abuja, and the South African Government during last year’s G20 meetings in Johannesburg, to strengthen cybersecurity efforts in Africa.

His Excellency, Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, said: “We recognize that for digitization to be inclusive, it must be trusted and secure. Mastercard has long been a trusted partner to South Africa, and its Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence is a welcome step to build on that foundation, drawing on the country’s best and brightest to meet a challenge no government or company can solve alone."

His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, President of Nigeria, said: “As Nigeria deepens its digital transformation, secure and trusted systems will be critical to inclusion and growth. We welcome collaborations that strengthen our digital economy and build resilience for the future.”

As digital adoption accelerates across Africa, cybersecurity has become an imperative for economic growth. No single organization can face today’s cyber threats alone. The Africa Cybersecurity Center of Excellence has been established to support the strengthening of collective defense across the continent by bringing together financial institutions, public sector organizations and businesses to share intelligence, improve preparedness, anticipate threats earlier and build resilience over time.

Michael Miebach, CEO, Mastercard, said: "Africa is dynamic, fast-growing, and ready to scale its digital future. That won't happen without trust. People don't use what they don't trust. That makes cybersecurity foundational to driving economic resilience and growth across the continent. By doing more to connect public and private sector efforts and share best practices, we can strengthen collective defense and secure a more confident and inclusive digital economy."

As Africa’s digital economy is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030, the need for greater collaboration has never been more urgent. Cybercrime across Africa is rising sharply, resulting in significant economic losses each year, with only an estimated 35% of incidents officially reported. This underreporting is driven by cyber maturity gaps, limited detection capabilities, and reputational concerns, thus creating a fragmented view of the threat landscape and weakening coordinated response efforts across the region. South Africa is the continent’s most targeted market, accounting for around 29% of ransomware attacks and 40% of phishing incidents in Africa, while Nigeria ranks among the most affected markets for ransomware and dark-web threat activity.

The multi-year initiative will be led by Mastercard. It will begin a phased rollout in 2026, starting with South Africa and Nigeria. Through this collective model, it is intended to support the strengthening of cyber resilience and preparedness and enable more secure digital growth across Africa.

Operating as a pan‑African hub delivered through connected digital platforms and capabilities, the Center will help participating organisations gain greater visibility into emerging threats. This includes a first‑year ecosystem cyber risk analysis covering up to 50 organisations, alongside access to an Africa‑focused threat intelligence feed developed by Recorded Future, a Mastercard company. Through collaboration among CISOs, business leaders and security practitioners - enabled by secure information‑sharing, joint exercises and coordinated response - the Center will strengthen a more connected and resilient cybersecurity ecosystem across Africa.

The Center of Excellence is designed to evolve over time, expanding its capabilities as market needs develop. At the heart of the initiative are three core pillars:

The launch of the Africa Cybersecurity Center of Excellence represents the next chapter in Mastercard's broader mission to build trust in the digital economy. The company has invested more than $12.6 billion in cybersecurity innovation since 2018 and has supported the launch of more than 20 cybersecurity-focused startups. This marks a further step in Mastercard’s evolution from a payments network to a trusted technology and cyber intelligence partner, supporting the strengthening of cyber resilience across Africa and enabling secure, inclusive and sustainable digital growth.

By working alongside governments, financial institutions and businesses of all sizes, including SMEs, Mastercard intends to help strengthen the digital foundations that underpin inclusive growth. By investing in capabilities that address the continent’s evolving realities, Mastercard seeks to support the development of a more secure and resilient digital future across the markets in which it operates.

About Mastercard

Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we’re building a resilient economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses and governments realize their greatest potential. www.mastercard.com

*Source:AETOSWire

L-R: Mastercard Chief Government Affairs and Policy Officer, Tucker Foote, Global Chief Executive Officer, Michael Miebach, President Bola Tinubu, Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila and Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele during the visit of the Mastercard Global Team to President Tinubu at the State House on Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (Photo: AETOSWire)

L-R: Michael Miebach, CEO, Mastercard with His Excellency, Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa during the visit of the Mastercard Global Team to Johannesburg, South Africa on Wednesday, 24 June 2026. (Photo: AETOSWire)

Michael Miebach, CEO, Mastercard unveiling The Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday, 25 June 2026. (Photo: AETOSWire)

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Andy Burnham, likely the next U.K. prime minister, pledged Monday to give away a chunk of his power by handing greater autonomy to local leaders in a “circuit-breaker” for the sclerotic British state.

The former mayor of Greater Manchester also said he would move part of the prime minister’s office from London’s 10 Downing St. to northwest England as part of “the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen.”

“Growth cannot be ordered from the top down. Instead, it can only be nurtured from the bottom up,” Burnham said in a speech aimed at bringing voters, Labour Party colleagues and financial markets up to speed with his economic vision.

Burnham is the strong favorite to replace Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who announced his resignation last week.

“If councils can’t fix potholes, what chance do they have of bringing forward major regeneration schemes to get growth going?” Burnham said. He set out a 10-year plan to get “good growth in every postcode,” in a country where wealth and power are concentrated in London and the south of England.

He said he would reverse almost two decades of low growth since the 2008 financial crisis through an approach dubbed “Manchesterism” — harnessing private and public money to invest in areas like transport, housing and infrastructure. He also pledged to create new industrial jobs and better educational opportunities, and to reform the U.K.’s inefficient and expensive privatized water and energy utilities.

During the speech at the People’s History Museum in the city where he spent nine years as mayor, Burnham said a new government office in Manchester – dubbed “No. 10 North” — would oversee regional development and become “the nerve center of a rewired Britain,” tasked with equalizing living standards across the country. Regional mayors would get more power over housing, welfare and education as part of his planned reforms.

Burnham’s rousing speech was short on specifics about where the government would find more money, and he didn’t take questions from journalists.

Burnham won praise for his role in revitalizing and regenerating Manchester, but he has not served in a U.K. government for almost two decades, and may struggle to replicate “Manchesterism” on a U.K.-wide scale.

The Institute for Public Policy Research, a left-leaning think tank, said Burnham is right to focus on “rebalancing Britain."

“The U.K.’s concentration of power and opportunity in Westminster has held back growth, productivity and living standards for too long,” said IPPR Executive Director Harry Quilter-Pinner. “The real test now is delivery.”

Matthew Flinders, a politics professor at the University of Sheffield, said replicating Burnham’s Manchester approach on a national level would require “a fundamental shift" in the way politics is done in Britain.

“And at the heart of that would be moving from a very traditional, elitist, centralized model of politics toward something that is in many ways far more European, far more based on power-sharing in order to develop long-term policymaking capacity,” he said.

Burnham will be aware that Starmer also announced a 10-year mission — the equivalent of two full terms in government —- to transform Britain soon after he was elected in a landslide in July 2024. Starmer is leaving after two years in office marred by missteps and judgment errors that eroded his standing with his party and the public.

Burnham won a special election for a seat in Parliament on June 18 and was sworn in as a lawmaker on June 22, the same day Starmer announced that he will resign as soon as a successor is chosen.

Burnham is so far the only contender in the Labour Party leadership contest. If no one challenges him, he will become prime minister by July 20.

While Burnham is considered more charismatic than the stolid Starmer, he will face many of the same political and economic challenges, including a sluggish economy, tattered public services and a cost-of-living squeeze. He will also be constrained by the platform the center-left Labour Party was elected on in 2024, with its pledges not to increase taxes on working people.

And like other NATO countries, the U.K. is under pressure to dramatically increase defense spending to counter a more aggressive Russia and less reliable United States.

The government’s long-awaited defense investment plan — which sparked the resignation of Defense Secretary John Healey on June 11 — is expected to be published before a NATO summit in Turkey on July 7 and 8. Starmer’s successor will be expected to stick to the commitments in the plan.

“Andy Burnham’s big idea is to shuffle power between politicians,” said opposition Conservative Party Chairman Kevin Hollinrake. “Not fix the welfare system. Not cut the taxes strangling working families and British business. Not fund the defense our country desperately needs.”

Lawless reported from London. Associated Press Writer Brian Melley contributed to this story.

Labour party's Andy Burnham adjusts his glasses as he delivers a speech at the People's History Museum in Manchester, England, Monday, June 29, 2026.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Labour party's Andy Burnham delivers a speech at the People's History Museum in Manchester, England, Monday, June 29, 2026.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Labour party's Andy Burnham delivers a speech at the People's History Museum in Manchester, England, Monday, June 29, 2026.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Andy Burnham running near his house in Cheshire, England, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (Peter Powell/PA via AP)

Andy Burnham running near his house in Cheshire, England, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (Peter Powell/PA via AP)