The campaign will run from December 17, 2025, to January 8, 2026. The campaign is designed to reward everyday transactions with extraordinary experiences.

It runs alongside PalmPay’s Purple December brand campaign, which focuses on wrapping up the company’s key brand and community initiatives for the year.

At the centre of the rewards campaign is the PalmPay World Travel Carnival, an interactive card collection experience that allows users to earn city cards by completing transactions on the app.

Users are required to collect five city cards – London, New York, Dubai, Sydney, and Cape Town and combine them into a World  Card, which unlocks a share of the prize pool.

The more World Cards a user creates, the larger their share of the cash rewards. Any extra uncombined cards can be swapped with friends and other PalmPay users to help complete additional World Cards.

Beyond cash rewards, the Carnival also offers Free Global Trips. In each round, the top two users with the highest number of eligible transactions (₦100 and above) and at least one World Card will win an all-expense-paid international trip.

The travel grand prize covers:

1. Visa fees
2. Round-trip international airfare
3. 5-day, 4-night hotel accommodation
4. Side attraction
5. Meal expenses
6. Airport pick-up and drop-off
7. All transportation for scheduled tour activities during the trip

Winners will be determined through a transparent leaderboard system, with prizes credited automatically at the end of each round on December 25, December 31, and January 8.

Participation is simple:

1. Complete tasks on the PalmPay app, such as Airtime, Data, Transfers, and other specific transactions listed in the app, to earn cards.
2. Collect all five city cards.
3. Swap cards with friends to complete your collection.
4. Combine cards to form a World Card and earn cash rewards.
5. Perform more transactions to climb the leaderboard for a chance at the global trip prize.

To ensure fairness, PalmPay has instituted strict rules: no cheating, bots, fake accounts, or manipulation. Any violations may lead to disqualification or account bans. Additionally, the Free Travel Prize is limited to one per user throughout the campaign.

Speaking on the launch, Femi Hanson, head of Marketing & Communication,

“This festive rewards campaign is about turning everyday banking into meaningful value for our users. With the World Travel Carnival as the headline activation, we are reinforcing PalmPay’s promise of being the smarter way to bank, where smart financial decisions unlock bigger opportunities.”

For more information, download PalmPay

Nigeria’s mobile money sector experienced significant growth, in 2024, marked by substantial increases in transaction volumes, user adoption, and strategic investments.

For instance, between January and July 2024, licensed mobile money operators, including PalmPay, processed transactions totaling ₦41.5 trillion.

This represents a 74% increase compared to the ₦23.9 trillion recorded during the same period in 2023.

Given that the total transaction value for the entire year of 2023 was ₦46.6 trillion, the 2024 figures indicate a trajectory toward surpassing previous records.

Flip to 2025, PalmPay is forecasting that with smartphone penetration projected to reach 65% by 2026 as well as improved internet infrastructure, more Nigerians will be enabled to access mobile money services.

Speaking during a media parley at their Lagos office, Chika Nwosu, the managing director, PalmPay, reiterated that smartphone penetration, internet connectivity and innovative technologies as key factors that are crucial to increased access to mobile money services in Nigeria.

According to him, with smartphone penetration projected to reach 65% by 2026 as well as improved internet infrastructure, more Nigerians will be enabled to access mobile money services.

He disclosed that, with fintech companies such as PalmPay evolving through digital wallets and seamless payment gateways, accessibility to mobile money service was bound to expand soon.

He emphasized that with demand for affordability of financial services growing, more opportunities would be unlocked for PalmPay in the nearest future.

“From under 10,000 agents in 2015 to over 1.5 million agents in 2023, agent networks have become the backbone of mobile money operations in Nigeria. For this reason, we are more likely to see a sharp increase in the number of mobile money agents and merchants. Apart from that, MMOs will increasingly use artificial intelligence to improve customer experiences, such as machine learning, predictive analytics, and fraud detection,” he said.

Donald Ubeh, head, Risk and Compliance, MLRO at PalmPay, in a presentation on impact of Fintech, stated that with more collaboration with regulators and other financial institutions, it was only a matter of time that Nigeria’s name will be expunged from the list.

While highlighting the impact of fintech companies such as PalmPay, Ubeh explained that the berth of PalmPay has led to economic empowerment particularly for individual users and several Small and Medium Scale enterprises.

He noted that many Nigerians including bank customers have migrated their funds to PalmPay owing to convenience and accessibility it provides.

He added that mobile money operators were conceived with the aim of driving financial inclusion for the underserved and unbanked population.

According to EFInA, increasing adoption of fintech companies by Nigerians has led to increase in financial inclusion rate by 13% in 13 years.

In his presentation, Femi Hanson, head, Marketing and Communications, PalmPay, disclosed the company’s seven (7) Mobile Money Forecasts for 2025:

1. Financial Inclusion

Fintech companies integrated innovative technologies, such as digital wallets and seamless payment gateways, USSD to expand service accessibility.

2. Collaboration with Regulators, Financial Institutions

More Fintech collaboration with regulators is crucial to fostering a stable financial ecosystem and address compliance concerns to ensure that Nigeria’s removal from the FATF grey list.

Interestingly, just last Friday, the Nigerian government, through the efforts of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, (NFIU) have kick-started an initiative that would ensure the exclusion of the country from the FATF Grey List by May 2025.

This initiative was a directive of President Bola Tinubu to the request of the NFIU to develop and implement an Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financial Terrorism/Counter Proliferation of Firearms Data Management Framework and Platform in collaboration with NITDA. [READ MORE here]

3. Increased Smartphone Adoption

PalmPay has said that increased adoption of smartphones and Internet connectivity will enable more Nigerians to have access to mobile money services, particularly the unbanked and underserved.

Smartphone penetration is projected to reach 65% by 2026, will enable more Nigerians to access mobile money services. – PalmPay

4. Increased Demand for Affordability

The demand for affordable offerings and savings will increase and this is where the fintech will plug in.

5. Extensive Agency Network

From under 10,000 agents in 2015 to over 1.5 million agents in 2023, agent networks have become the backbone of mobile money operations in Nigeria. “We expect to witness growth in this aspect”, Mr. Hanson said.

6. Expansion of AI, Blockchain, and Big Data.

MMOs will increasingly use artificial intelligence to improve customer experiences, such as through machine learning, predictive analytics, and fraud detection.

7. Diversification of Digital Services

“We will see more operations in insurance tech, health tech, savings & wealth all on the fintech platform”, he added.

PalmPay Story:

PalmPay is an emerging markets-focused, multinational fintech founded in 2019.

By leveraging cutting-edge technology, the Fintech makes world-class financial services available to the mass market in regions that need it the most.

PalmPay operates Nigeria’s biggest financial app by monthly active users of 16 million and are rapidly expanding into new markets.

Today, PalmPay serves over 35 million customers and 1.2 million business users with digital accounts, real-time payments and savings and credit solutions.