• Flutterwave secures Nigerian banking license to offer credit and savings
• License enables direct deposits, improving efficiency and product development
• Move intensifies competition in Africa’s rapidly growing fintech market

Flutterwave, Africa’s leading digital payments company, has secured a banking license in Nigeria, allowing it to offer credit and savings products in its largest market. The company already holds licenses for payments and money transfers in the country.

“This license enables the company to hold funds and deposits directly, strengthening its financial infrastructure across its largest market and enabling more efficient financial services and settlement flows for consumers, businesses and enterprises,” the company said in a statement.

Flutterwave joins global fintech firms such as Revolut and Wise in pursuing banking licenses to support expansion. Payment companies have traditionally relied on partnerships with commercial banks to access national clearing and settlement systems, a model that can slow innovation and require sharing part of transaction revenues.

With a banking license, Flutterwave gains greater control over fund flows within its ecosystem, bringing key parts of its operations in-house. This is expected to improve efficiency, accelerate product development and allow the company to capture more value from transactions, while improving cash flow management across its platform.

“This milestone allows us to make our infrastructure more efficient and deliver faster, more reliable financial services. By operating directly within the financial system, we can streamline money movement, accelerate settlement for merchants, and build products that support sustainable long-term growth,” founder and Chief Executive Olugbenga Agboola said.

Fierce competition

The move comes as Africa’s digital payments market is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030, according to a 2025 report by Mastercard.

Established players including Flutterwave, OPay, Chipper Cash, Interswitch, MNT-Halan and Moniepoint face rising competition from a growing number of smaller fintech startups. The number of fintech firms in Africa increased from 450 in 2020 to 1,049 in April 2022 and 1,263 in January 2024, according to a European Investment Bank study published in November 2024.

Flutterwave said it has processed more than $40 billion across over one billion transactions in around 30 currencies. Valued at more than $3 billion, the company operates in 34 African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, Zambia and Mozambique.

Beyond individual users, the Lagos- and San Francisco-based firm serves more than two million businesses, including Uber, Air Peace, Bamboo and PiggyVest. In January, Flutterwave acquired Mono, an open banking startup operating in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, as part of efforts to combine payments, bank verification and financial data services on a single platform.

Walid Kéfi