Lending Becomes New Battleground As Moniepoint, Rivals Square Off In Nigeria

Tosin Eniolorunda, founder/CEO of Nigeria’s largest fintech by transaction volume, Moniepoint, has fired the starting gun on credit layering, which is shaping up to replace payments as the new battleground in Nigeria’s vibrant fintech scene. And industry insiders say the battle over customer deposits will be key to that.

Speaking at the official launch of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Payments System Vision (PSV) 2028 framework in Abuja, the Moniepoint Group CEO argued that the next phase of growth for the country’s digital economy lies in building credit products directly on top of existing payment rails.

“I believe the next phase of growth will come from layering services like credit onto existing payment flows, using the visibility and trust already built through financial transactions,” Eniolorunda told a panel of industry leaders, including the heads of NIBSS, Remita and SANEF. “For many small businesses, access has always been the real barrier.”

Moniepoint has already demonstrated the firepower of that model. Its microfinance bank disbursed more than NGN 1 T (USD 734 M) in credit to SMEs in 2025, financing thousands of provision stores, pharmacies and building materials sellers across the country. The company processed NGN 412 T (USD 302 B) in transaction value last year, powering an estimated 80% of in-person digital payments nationwide.

Yet the credit push is merely the visible front of a deeper strategic pivot. An emerging consensus among analysts and executives is that the coming fight will not be merely about lending, but about the cheap deposits required to fund it profitably.

“Large fintechs are not going to borrow expensive money to lend, they also won’t be depending solely on float.” industry veteran Victor Asemota pointed out, suggesting operators will deploy customer deposits, leveraging microfinance bank licenses to build balance sheets that can compete with traditional commercial banks.

That puts the spotlight on the deposit side of the equation. Banks have long held a monopoly on low-cost retail and corporate deposits. But fintechs, such as Moniepoint, OPay, PalmPay, FairMoney, Flutterwave and Paystack, have been quietly accumulating user bases that rival or exceed those of many Tier-2 banks. OPay and PalmPay alone have over 80 million users between them, while Kuda and Moniepoint serves 7 million and 16 million individuals, respectively.

A recent report by Credit Direct Ltd, a leading non-bank lender, forecasts that Nigeria’s credit market will split over the coming decade. Banks will concentrate on corporate and secured lending, it argues, while non-banks will lead consumer and informal-sector credit, powered by embedded finance and AI underwriting.

That structural realignment is already forcing traditional banks to defend their turf. Analysts have tipped neobanks to aggressively poach customers from legacy lenders in 2026, while Flutterwave’s recent acquisition of a microfinance bank license was described as creating a “tectonic shift” in the competitive landscape. The CBN has also formalised the nationwide status of fast-growing fintechs, effectively placing them closer to deposit money banks on the competitive spectrum.

Governor Olayemi Cardoso underscored the stakes at the PSV 2028 launch. “Inclusion and not exclusion must define our future,” he said, setting a target of 95% financial inclusion by 2028 — incorporating 50 million more Nigerians into the formal banking system. Achieving that goal will require regulators, banks and fintechs to work together, he warned against the country’s historic “start-stop” policy cycles.

Moniepoint is not alone in positioning for this shift. FairMoney disbursed over NGN 150 B in loans to small businesses in 2025. PalmPay and OPay have built mass-market payment networks and lending features. Flutterwave’s 2 million-strong Send App user base now has a banking licence behind it. Paystack, too, has acquired a microfinance bank licence, though it faces a significant competitive gap against larger incumbents.