How Mobile Money investing works

The full picture: from XAF to NYSE

When you tap "buy" on Amarah, a chain of events unfolds in seconds: your XAF payment leaves your MoMo wallet, converts to USD, routes to a US broker, executes on the New York Stock Exchange, and the shares, held by our partner broker, appear in your Amarah account. The whole process is automated and transparent.

Here is how each step works.

Step 1: the Mobile Money layer

Amarah connects to MTN MoMo and Orange Money through a payment provider. When you initiate a deposit, a payment request is sent to your MoMo account. You confirm with your PIN, the same way you pay for airtime or transfer money to a friend. Funds move from your MoMo wallet to Amarah's pooled collection account within seconds.

This is a standard mobile payment flow used by thousands of apps in the region. The MoMo networks handle the authentication and settlement.

Step 2: the currency conversion

Once your deposit is confirmed, Amarah converts it to USD at the live market rate minus a conversion margin (2% at the rates shown in October 2026), then deducts the deposit fee, and the USD amount is credited to your Amarah balance. You see the exact amount before you confirm.

The XAF/USD rate is fixed at the moment of conversion, so the USD amount shown in your account does not change afterwards.

Step 3: the US broker executes the trade

Your orders are executed by our US partner broker, a FINRA member registered with the SEC, which also holds your shares. When you place a buy order, Amarah sends the instruction to the broker's API. The broker routes the order to the relevant exchange (NYSE or Nasdaq), where it executes at the best available market price.

For fractional shares, the broker internally allocates the fraction from a pool, a standard practice across all fractional share platforms. Your allocation is recorded in your account ledger immediately upon execution.

Step 4: settlement (T+1)

In the US, stock trades settle on a T+1 basis, meaning the trade officially completes one business day after execution. Until settlement, your shares are in a pending state but already reflected in your portfolio balance.

Withdrawal requests are processed after settlement, within 3 to 5 business days.

Security at every layer

Each layer has independent security: MoMo PIN for payments, biometric authentication for the Amarah app, encrypted API connections to our broker partner, and a ledger that confirms every payment with the provider before your balance changes.

Your shares and dollar balance are held by our US partner broker. Every staff action that touches customer money requires two-factor sign-in and is written to an audit log.

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