In ‘Africa’s $100 billion banking market’ published earlier this week, I focused on Africa’s top 5 banking markets and wrote that “the line between bank and fintech is blurring faster in Nigeria than anywhere else on the continent.”
A few hours later, Flutterwave provided the latest proof.
For the last decade, Nigeria’s most valuable fintech built payments technology on top of the banking system — relying on partner banks to hold deposits and settle funds.
But it just announced securing a banking license. Now it can hold the deposits itself.
“We can now control the value chain of payments in Nigeria,” CEO Olugbenga Agboola said. “Our destiny is now in our hands.”
The implications are significant:
Faster settlements, better margins. By connecting directly to Nigeria’s clearing and settlement systems, Flutterwave can accelerate payouts to merchants and stop paying fees to the partner banks it previously relied on — a meaningful improvement to unit economics at scale.
Lending & business banking…