Nigeria’s central bank has upgraded the operating licences of several leading fintech companies and microfinance banks, bringing their regulatory status in line with how widely they already operate across the country.
The Central Bank of Nigeria said the move covers firms such as Opay, Moniepoint, Palmpay, Kuda Bank, and Paga, all of which have now been approved to operate nationally.
Speaking in Lagos at the annual conference of the Committee of Heads of Banks’ Operations, Yemi Solaja, director of the CBN’s Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department, said many of these institutions had long outgrown their earlier regional licences. In practice, he noted, their services were already being used across Nigeria through mobile apps and large agent networks.
Founded and scaled by local founders who focused on everyday payments and small businesses, these fintechs built momentum by serving informal traders and consumers often overlooked by traditional banks.
As their customer bases expanded, the gap between licence limits and real activity had became harder to ignore.
As a result, the regulator has moved to formalise their reach. With national licences, the firms are now subject to higher capital requirements and stricter supervision. National microfinance banks must maintain minimum capital of ₦5 billion and keep physical offices where customers can raise complaints knowing there is a clear point of contact.
Overall, the licence changes reflect a broader effort by the regulator to match Nigeria’s fast growing digital finance sector with stronger oversight, while still supporting financial inclusion at scale.