OPay, PalmPay, 15 other MMOs process N71.5 trillion in 2024

• OPay, PalmPay, and 15 other mobile money operators processed transactions valued at N71.5 trillion in 2024
• The amount is 53.4 per cent higher than the N46.6 trillion recorded in 2023
• The surge in transactions processed by fintechs was despite the two-month ban from onboarding new customers imposed on them by the Central Bank of Nigeria in April 2024

Financial technology (fintech) companies, OPay, PalmPay, and 15 other licenced Mobile Money Operators (MMOs) processed transactions worth N71.5 trillion between January and December 2024.

This is according to the latest data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS), which also showed that electronic payment transactions in Nigeria surged to an all-time high of N1.07 quadrillion in 2024, the first time to hit the quadrillion mark.

The amount represents a 53.4 per cent increase in transactions across mobile money platforms compared to the N46.6 trillion recorded in 2023.

By volume of transactions, the NIBSS data shows that mobile money platforms processed 3.9 billion transactions in 2024, a 23 per cent increase from the three billion recorded in 2023.

Role of CBN’s policies in surge of e-payments

The surge in the value and volume of e-payment transactions in Nigeria in 2024, which increased to N1.07 quadrillion, is not unconnected to the recent cash crunch and the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which limited the amount of cash that can be withdrawn daily and weekly.

According to the CBN’s revised cashless policy, which became effective on January 9, 2023, cash withdrawal by an individual is limited to N500,000 a week, while corporate organisations have a N5 million withdrawal limit in a week.

In December 2024, the CBN limited the amount of cash to be withdrawn via Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals to N100,000 daily and N500,000 weekly.

The directive aimed to ensure cash availability, especially during the festive season, prevent cash hoarding and halt the illicit flow of minted banknotes to currency hawkers and economic agents that commodify naira banknotes.

Already, banks have begun implementing the directive, even as the CBN fined nine banks N150 million each for failing to make cash available via their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

CBN banned fintechs from onboarding new customers

The increase in transactions processed by fintechs in 2024 was despite the 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 imposed by CBN in April 2024.

As part of measures to lift the ban, the CBN, on May 20, 2024, directed fintechs to block peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency trading, as the National Security Adviser (NSA) said it posed a security concern.

Fintechs were also mandated to ensure physical address verification for all tiers of accounts and to update their facial verification for customers.

The ban led to an overhaul of fintechs’ onboarding procedures, appointing banks’ top shots to handle compliance, and a commitment to improve compliance measures, after the ban was lifted in June 2024.

CBN licenced 17 fintechs as MMOs

While over 200 fintechs are operating in Nigeria, only 17 are licenced to operate as mobile money service providers by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Mobile money involves the use of mobile phones for the initiation, authorisation, and confirmation of the transfer of a value out of a current/checking, savings, or stored value account.

Again, fintechs to the rescue as banks undergo system upgrades

Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that as was the case during the crash crunch in early 2023, occasioned by the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), fintechs came to the rescue of Nigerians as banks underwent system upgrades in 2024.

With millions of customers in Nigeria in just a few years of operation, fintechs have redefined electronic banking with innovations like lightning speed, mobile, real-time, boundless transactions and cheaper or fewer charges.