-1735217390431-815641149.jpeg&w=1920&q=75)
- The Nigerian fintech space witnessed several events in 2024
- These happenings shaped the space in the year
- TheRadar highlights five of these events, including the implementation of the N50 Electronic Money Transfer Levy, the emergence of two unicorns in Africa, and the ban on fintech customers’ onboarding
Like other sectors, the financial technology (fintech) space was not uneventful in the outgoing year.
The year saw fintechs expand, innovate, achieve milestones, and provide financial services when traditional banks experienced difficulties meeting the challenge.
From two African fintechs achieving unicorn status, implementing the Federal Government’s Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) to Temu’s shake-up of the e-commerce space, TheRadar highlights five events that defined the fintech space in 2024.
5 events that defined the fintech space in 2024
1. Implementation of the Federal Government’s EMTL
On September 7, fintechs, including OPay, Moniepoint, and PalmPay, announced that they would begin deducting N50 as an Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) on users’ transactions of N10,000 and above.
They said the EMTL charge would take effect from September 9, adding that the levy is entirely directed to the Federal Government and not a revenue source.
However, the announcement was met with objections from Nigerians, including the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Point of Sale (PoS) operators, and economists, among others, who argued that the policy was ill-timed.
Following the opposition, the implementation of the levy was suspended for a few months.
On November 30, fintech companies notified their customers that the levy's implementation would take effect on December 1, 2024, in accordance with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) directive.
Consequently, fintechs, including Opay, Moniepoint, and others, began deducting N50 as EMTL on transactions of N10,000 and above.
2. CBN banned fintechs from onboarding new customers
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in April 2024, imposed a two-month ban on customer onboarding for several fintechs, including OPay, Kuda, Paga, Moniepoint, and Palmpay for non-compliance with Know Your Customers (KYC) standards.
As part of measures to lift the ban, the CBN directed fintech to block peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto trading on May 20, 2024, as the National Security Adviser (NSA) said it posed a security concern.
Fintechs were also mandated to ensure physical address verification for all account tiers and update their facial verification for customers.
The ban led to an overhaul of fintechs’ onboarding procedures, the appointment of banks’ top players to handle compliance, and a commitment to improve compliance measures after the ban was lifted in June 2024.
3. Moniepoint became a unicorn
On October 29, 2024, Nigeria-based Moniepoint Inc. raised $110 million in equity financing to become Africa’s eighth startup to have achieved Unicorn status.
Moniepoint joined Africa’s unicorn league that already had the likes of Interswitch, Opay, Flutterwave, Wave, Andela, Chipper, and MNT-Halan.
The Series C financing round was led by Development Partners International (DPI) and other new investors including Google’s Africa Investment Fund and Verod Capital. Global impact firm, Lightrock, an existing investor, also participated in the funding round.
The new funding has further boosted the fintech’s valuation to at least $1 billion, increasing from around $400 million in a 2022 funding round where it raised $50 million.
The fintech said the capital raised will be channelled towards accelerating its growth across Africa and building an all-in-one, seamlessly integrated platform for businesses that will offer services such as digital payments, banking, foreign exchange, credit, and business management tools.
In addition, Moniepoint appointed Bayo Olujobi as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of one of its subsidiaries, Moniepoint Microfinance Bank (MFB).
Before his appointment, Olujobi was the CFO of Stanbic IBTC Bank (a member of Standard Bank Group) and a Non-Executive Director of Stanbic IBTC Capital, the investment arm of Stanbic IBTC Holdings.
4. Temu’s big entry into Nigeria
In the last quarter of 2024, the popular e-commerce platform Temu, owned by China’s PDD Holdings, made a big show of its entry into Nigeria, posing a threat to established local e-commerce platforms like Jumia, Konga, and Jiji.
The platform offered Nigerians much lower prices and a wider range of products than its local rivals. This strategy added to the app’s popularity, given the country's economic condition.
Temu also deployed massive advertising and aggressive marketing to reach its customers, reportedly spending $1.3 billion on Meta ads in 2023.
In the first week of its entry, it became the most downloaded app on Nigeria’s Google Play Store and Apple App Store, with over 500 million downloads on the Andriod Store. It surpassed OPay, Crypto Mayors, and WhatsApp as the most downloaded app.
On the Apple App Store, Temu topped the list of the most downloaded apps in Nigeria, while Bammby and OPay came second and third, respectively.
Temu’s entry into Nigeria is expected to intensify competition in the Nigerian market and the US International Trade Administration projects will grow to $75 billion in 2025 from $12 billion in 2019.
5. Tyme Group joined Africa’s unicorn league
South Africa’s Tyme Group raised $250 million in a Series D round on December 17, 2024 to reach a $1.5 billion valuation, becoming Africa’s ninth unicorn.
Nu Holdings, the parent company of Latin America’s most valuable fintech, Nu Bank, led the funding round.
Nu Holdings invested $150 million for a 10 per cent stake. M&G Catalyst Fund and existing investors also participated in the round.
The Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Tyme, Coenraad Jonker, noted that the capital raising round demonstrates investors’ confidence in the group’s business as it will assert its place in South Africa’s commercial banking landscape.
2024 wrapped: Bank recapitalisation, interest rate hikes, three other key policies of CBN
Meanwhile, TheRadar reported that in the outgoing year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) made key decisions that shaped Nigeria’s monetary landscape.
2024, which marks the one-year in office of the CBN governor, Olayemi Cardoso, saw the CBN make such policies as the bank recapitalisation policy, interest rate hikes, clearing of forex backlog, among others.
