The company confirmed on Monday that interested customers will be migrated into Paystack MFB before July 31, 2026, further noting that its business banking operations will now sit within Paystack’s regulated banking system.

“Brass will move its business banking into Paystack MFB,” the company said. “As part of this transition, Brass will no longer operate as an independent entity.”

Brass launched in 2020 with a focus on small and growing businesses. It offered accounts, payroll tools, expense tracking and cash-flow management. Many SMEs used the platform as an alternative to traditional banking systems that was previously slow and rigid.

By late 2023, cracks began to show. Customers reported delays in accessing funds, and issues spread across the startup ecosystem. The challenge around withdrawals affected trust in deposit-like fintech services it offered

Things escalated into a liquidity crisis that placed the company under serious stress. Founders and operators publicly voiced out at the time, as issues grew around customer balances and operational stability.

A rescue deal followed in May 2024, when a consortium led by Paystack, alongside PiggyVest, Ventures Platform, and P1 Ventures acquired Brass after months of instability.

At the time, investors described the takeover as a stabilising step, saying they wanted to support the company’s mission and restore confidence in operations. Brass’s co-founders later exited the business after the acquisition.

In Monday’s statement, Brass said the months after the deal focused on rebuilding its systems. New leadership, led by Philip Obosi and Yvonne Obike, took charge of operations and internal processes.

Progress eventually made one direction clearer. “As we rebuilt and as our platform became more mature, something became increasingly clear,” Brass said. “The next phase of our growth could not be achieved alone.”

That path now leads directly into Paystack’s banking infrastructure.

Paystack has expanded steadily beyond payments. In January 2026, it entered Nigeria’s banking space through the acquisition of Ladder Microfinance Bank, which became Paystack Microfinance Bank.

The bank now provides transfers, treasury services and other business banking tools. Brass’s SME-focused products fit into that structure without major adjustment.

Paystack itself, acquired by Stripe in 2020, has continually strengthened its focus on regulated financial services across Africa.

Ever since, however, the sector has changed. During the funding boom between 2020 and 2022, many fintechs built overlapping products and competed for the same business customers. That expansion slowed when capital became tougher to get.

Regulators also increased oversight, especially around deposit-like services and liquidity management. Several companies have since restructured or merged to stay stable.

Consolidation has followed, with Flutterwave acquiring open banking firm Mono earlier in 2026, while Paystack’s absorption of Brass aligns with that pattern of consolidation.

Brass described its exit as a continuation rather than a closure. “This transition marks a new chapter,” the company stated, “with even greater capability for the businesses we serve.”

For SMEs, the migration brings accounts and operations into a regulated banking environment under Paystack MFB. Customers will receive direct communication on next steps ahead of the July 2026 deadline.

The investment firm made this known during its Afrinvest Meetup held in Lagos, where executives sat face-to-face with users, retail investor, finance creators and influencers in what became an unusually open conversation about the company’s technology problems, customer frustrations and resolutions future plans.

At the centre of the discussion was Afrinvest’s renewed drive to win back investor confidence after recent platform glitches that triggered backlash online and complaints from users over delayed settlements, duplicated trades and customer support gaps.

Speaking during the session, Ike Chioke, group managing director of Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited, admitted the firm had learned difficult lessons from the experience and would use the feedback to improve its systems.

“I can assure you that we’re going to take all of this feedback and integrate the systems and processes, and then figure out how to come up with a better application,” he said.

Chioke said one of the biggest realities the company had to confront was the gap between financial products and the average Nigerian investor.

The meetup focused heavily on Afrinvestor 2.0, the company’s upgraded investment platform, which executives said now includes improved security, easier onboarding and a new IPO subscription feature designed to handle upcoming public offers, including the expected Dangote Refinery IPO.

During a product showcase led by Taiwo Ogundipe, managing director of Afrinvest Securities Limited, the company demonstrated how users can subscribe to the IPO directly through the app.

Ogundipe explained that users can now access Nigerian equities, treasury bills, commercial papers, bonds and public offers from one platform.

Victor Ndukauba, deputy managing director, Afrinvest, said at the event: “Afrinvest today is well positioned for the upcoming Dangote Refinery IPO.”

The company also used the event to address the multiple trade execution issues that affected thousands of users earlier in the year.

Ndukauba explained what happened behind the scenes, saying the issue involved failures between external trading infrastructure providers and exchange systems.

“94,000 clients were affected,” he disclosed, explaining that unstable connections between systems triggered repeated order execution loops during trading sessions, forcing the company into weeks of investigations with technology providers and market infrastructure operators.

“We restored all the accounts to where it was,” he said. “Clients come first. No client would ultimately bear losses from the incident.” 

During the feedback session moderated by Margaret Ofem, head of Customer Success, users challenged the company over poor communication, confusing user experience and delayed complaint resolution.

Rather than avoid the criticism, Afrinvest executives spent hours responding point by point.

Ndukauba acknowledged the challenges, adding that Afrinvest is now redesigning its support structure to scale faster during complaint spikes and improve response times across email, calls and social media.

The company also revealed that it is working on integrating banking services directly into the investment ecosystem after acquiring a microfinance banking entity.

Chioke said the integration would eventually turn the investment app into a full financial platform where users can invest and save from one account.

“The same app you’re using becomes a bank account effectively,” he said.

“There will be no firm that can offer that kind of platform because of the integration of investment and savings.”

Afrinvest executives also disclosed that discussions are ongoing around cross-border investing within Africa.

According to the firm, the goal is to eventually allow users to buy shares across markets including Ghana and Kenya from a single platform, although regulatory approvals and settlement systems are still being worked out.

“We have already done some work around making it possible for other people to invest in Nigeria,” Ogundipe said.

“So that very soon within the Afrinvest stock app, you will begin to see shares from Ghana, from Kenya.”

The company said investor education would also become a bigger priority going forward, especially as more first-time investors enter the market.

Executives admitted many Nigerians still struggle to understand how investing works, despite increased interest in stocks and wealth creation products.

Victor Ndukauba, deputy managing director of Afrinvest, said retail investing in Nigeria has changed significantly in recent years.

“A few years down the line, nobody really cared about buying stocks or buying mutual funds,” he said. “That mindset is beginning to change.”

Afrinvest intends to stay long-term, despite the recent challenges. “We are not a wonder bank, and we are here for good,” Chioke said.

“We’ve been here since 1995, 30 years, and we’ll be here for another 30 years and beyond.”

The service was unveiled on Thursday, May 21, 2026, at SLOT headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos, with both companies describing the initiative as a medium to reduce the high cost of phone repairs in Nigeria and give users quicker access to trusted repair services.

SuperFix, powered by CubeCover and distributed through SLOT stores nationwide, provides coverage for cracked screens and liquid damage, with protection plans ranging up to N300,000 depending on the device category.

Speaking at the launch, Deji Macaulay, CEO of CubeCover said the service was designed around a fully digital process designed to make phone repairs easier and faster for users.

“Today, your phone is not just a device, it’s your office, your camera, your bank, your connection to the world. When it burns, it costs more than money.”

Customers can activate the service directly at any SLOT outlet by selecting a preferred plan, registering their details digitally and uploading a short video of the device to confirm its condition before coverage begins.

Macaulay said the increasing cost of phone repairs inspired the product.

“What we initially noticed as the main challenge is that the price of fixing your phone in Nigeria can be very expensive,” he said.

“If it happens that your phone is damaged and it takes too long to fix because it is either expensive or you don’t know where to repair it, your daily life is affected until you find a solution.”

He added that the partnership with SLOT would give customers access to repair services across the retailer’s nationwide network, using certified parts and trained technicians.

He also said SuperFix was designed to address longstanding concerns Nigerians have about insurance claims and delays.

“Superfix is designed in such a way that your claims can be approved within 10 seconds. From the moment it’s submitted, you can get your claims approved automatically.”

Customers will receive notifications once a phone is submitted for repairs and again when the device is ready for pickup.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SLOT Systems, Nnamdi Ezeigbo, said the company entered the partnership because of its focus on customer value and long-term trust.

“At SLOT, we are actually concerned about the customer experience,” he said. “We are concerned about how much customers spend, and what value they actually get.”

“We are not just selling phones, we sell much more than phones. In fact, we sell trust and quality.”

Ezeigbo said screen replacement costs have become a huge burden for phone users, especially owners of premium devices.

“Sometimes about 20% the cost of the phone itself,” he said while explaining how expensive some screen repairs have become.

He disclosed that SLOT estimates about 10% of smartphone buyers damage their screens within a year, creating what he described as a large market for device protection services.

“We are targeting the value-sensitive,” he said while explaining the company’s target market. “We’re also targeting the premium, those who buy phones of 2 million, 3 million.”

CubeCover said the lowest plan offers N50,000 coverage for N5,000 yearly, while higher plans extend up to N300,000 in repair coverage.

Alfred Egbai, chief operating officer of CubeCover, said the system was built around speed and simplicity. “All you have to do is present the device and give them a phone number, nothing complex,” he said.

“We’re able to verify your eligibility. We’re also able to check that the device you have presented to us was a device that was initially insured.”

Macaulay added that customers do not need to buy phones from SLOT before subscribing to SuperFix, as existing device owners can also walk into any SLOT branch and enrol their phones.

He also revealed that CubeCover had handled large claim volumes in the health sector. “Before now, we’ve handled more than 140,000 claims on the health side with our healthcare partners,” he said.

Cubecover Makes Audacious Entry into the Insuretech industry

On theft coverage, Macaulay clarified that the current package only covers screen damage and liquid damage. “For now, SuperFix doesn’t cover theft,” he said.

CubeCover General Manager for Business Development and Partnerships, Olufela Olurin, said the partnership would expand device protection services across the country using SLOT retail network.

“The fact that the cost of everything is on the rise, this partnership and SLOT’s nationwide store network makes it possible to bring the product to people in every city and location,” she said.

The launch ended with CubeCover and SLOT signing a partnership agreement, formally kicking off the nationwide rollout of SuperFix across SLOT stores.

Against this backdrop, Arista Networks, a global cloud networking company, in partnership with MART Networks and Resourcery Plc, hosted “Efficiency Meets Performance – The Arista Advantage” on Tuesday at the Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel.

The event brought together telecom operators, financial institutions, and other technology experts, to discuss how to build faster, more reliable networks while keeping costs under control, with particular attention on reducing energy use in a power-constrained market.

Speaking at the event, Arista’s Territory Account Manager for West Africa, Jide Olagbenro, said demand for efficient infrastructure is increasing as organisations look to balance performance with the cost of operation.

“Power is a real issue here,” he said. “You don’t want devices that consume too much energy. That is one of the reasons customers are turning to Arista.”

He added that the company’s solutions are already in use across key sectors in Nigeria, including financial services and large-scale industrial operations, emphasising the growing acceptance in the region.

“We are seeing strong adoption in this market,” he said. “But we need to keep working closely with our partners to expand that reach.”

Arista’s Regional Sales Director for sub-Saharan Africa, Marius Keown, pointed to the company’s global footprint, noting that its technology underpins some of the world’s largest cloud and content platforms.

“Some of the biggest platforms in the world run on our network,” he said. “They would not invest at that level if the technology did not perform.”

He further noted that the company’s growth has been driven largely by engineering focus rather than aggressive marketing. “We focus on building solid technology and letting the results speak.”

Ify Chukwuma, head of Business Development, sub-Saharan Africa at Resourcery Plc Group, highlighted the importance of aligning technology with business needs, drawing on the company’s long-standing presence in Nigeria.

“We’ve been in business for 40 years. That tells you we understand this market,” she said. “What we do is align technology with business needs and deliver solutions that are cost-effective and intelligent.”

She added that partnerships are essential to delivering large-scale infrastructure projects. “We can’t do this alone. That is why we partner with global players like Arista, to bring value to customers and give them peace of mind.”

Esther Oyedokun, country manager at MART Networks, said distribution, training and local support are key to successful deployment across African markets.

“Our goal is simple, to empower businesses with the right technology,” she said. “We don’t just supply products, we provide training, pre-sales and post-sales support, and ensure our partners are fully equipped.”

She noted that access to local stock and technical expertise helps reduce delays and improve service delivery.

On the technical side, Faith Oladapo, product manager for Enterprise Networking at MART Networks, a distributor for Arista Networks, said energy efficiency is becoming a practical concern for operators managing Nigeria’s data centres.

“Our switches can reduce power consumption by up to 30%,” she said. “At first, that may not seem like much, but in a data centre environment, over time, it becomes significant.”

She added that a unified software system across Arista’s products simplifies deployment and reduces licensing complexity.

“We use a single operating system across our products. That makes deployment easier and reduces costs.”

Oladapo also pointed to adequate distribution management as a way to reduce the circulation of unsupported products in the market.

“One of the problems in the market is the spread of unsupported or counterfeit products,” she said. “We manage distribution carefully to ensure customers get genuine, fully supported solutions.”

The company’s near-term focus in Nigeria will be on building local capacity. “We are investing in training partners and engineers, because they are the ones driving adoption on the ground,” Oladapo said.

Efficiency has become an indispensable factor as demand for digital services grows, and organisations place greater emphasis on infrastructure that delivers performance without increasing operational stress.

Arista and its partners are therefore placing priority on delivering networks that combine speed, reliability and lower energy use, across data centres and other sectors, while supporting the scale required by Nigeria’s expanding digital economy.

In a conversation with Brad Levy, chief executive of ThetaRay, a company focused on the “wiring” of trust through AI-powered monitoring that helps banks and fintechs scale safely while detecting and reporting financial crime, we examined what this speed means for risk, regulation, and trust in the financial system. 

Levy argues that old ways of tracking money flows no longer hold up.

Nigeria’s banking and fintech sector has expanded, almost faster than the systems built to regulate it. Payments now move in seconds, and fraud patterns move just as quickly. 

Regulators are responding with stronger policies and expectations.

For Levy, the transition is apparent. Systems built for manual checks cannot keep pace with today’s transaction volumes or the complexity of digital crime networks. He describes a system under stress, where scale has exposed the limits of human-led monitoring.

Across banks and fintechs, the gap in readiness varies. Some institutions are already adopting artificial intelligence and real-time oversight. Others still rely on older compliance models that struggle to connect customer data with live transaction behaviour.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s recent direction on automated anti-money laundering (AML) systems sets a firm line, forcing the industry to move from gradual improvement to immediate action. Institutions now have to rethink how they see compliance, not as a back-office task, but as core infrastructure.

In this interview, Levy, who has spent his career building the plumbing of the global financial markets, first with nearly two decades at Goldman Sachs, then leading Symphony and MarkitSERV, explains what has changed, what still slips through the cracks, and why Nigeria’s approach may affect how digital finance is policed far beyond its borders.

TE: The Central Bank’s move makes automated AML systems effectively non-negotiable. From your vantage point, what changed in the risk sector to push regulators from guidance to outright mandates? 

Brad Levy (BL): The math simply stopped working for manual oversight. Nigeria has one of the most vibrant digital payment ecosystems in the world. You can’t monitor millions of instant transactions using spreadsheets and human eyes. 

The CBN’s March 2026 mandate recognises that guidance doesn’t stop automated, bot-driven crime. By mandating these systems, Nigeria is making a strategic move to protect the integrity of the Naira and ensure the country stays effectively connected to the global financial map.

TE: You’ve worked closely with financial institutions in Nigeria, where do most banks and fintechs actually stand today in terms of AML capability, and how wide is the gap? 

BL: The divide is significant, though it’s closing fast. We see forward-leaning institutions like Sterling Bank already moving toward a future-proof posture by putting AI at the centre of their monitoring. On the other hand, plenty of firms are still stuck in a “box-ticking” mindset.

The gap is most obvious when you look at the CBN’s anti-money laundering automation mandate. Most legacy systems can’t provide a unified view of the customer or link KYC/KYB data to transaction behaviour. 

The 18-month window for banks is tight, but the real pressure is the three-month requirement to submit a roadmap. If financial institutions haven’t started their gap analysis yet, they’re already behind.

TE: There’s a lot of talk about AI in compliance, but in practical terms, what kinds of financial crime patterns are still slipping through traditional monitoring systems that AI is better at catching? 

BL: Traditional systems are built on rules. They look for what we already know, like whether a transfer is over a certain dollar amount. Modern criminals have moved past that. They use smurfing or complex networks of mules to make illicit flows look like normal, low-value activity. AI catches the anomalies. 

It identifies patterns that look wrong even if we haven’t seen that specific tactic before. For a bank, it’s the difference between chasing 5,000 false alarms and actually finding the criminal network hidden in the noise.

TE: For Nigerian institutions, this goes beyond a tech upgrade to an operational shift. What are the biggest implementation challenges you’re seeing on the ground, especially around data quality, cost, and internal expertise? 

BL: The biggest hurdle is fragmented data. AI is only as good as what you feed it, and many institutions have their KYC data sitting in a different silo than their transaction logs. There is also a lingering perception that compliance is just a “tax” on doing business. 

I argue it’s a strategic asset. When you use AI to reduce false positives by 90%, you aren’t just satisfying the CBN; you’re making the entire bank more efficient. Your investigators can finally focus on real risks instead of low-value busywork.

TE: Do you see this directive as a Nigeria-specific response or part of a regulatory change across Africa? And how might it reshape expectations for cross-border transactions over the next few years? 

BL: Nigeria is the blueprint for the continent. We’re seeing similar shifts everywhere, from the EU’s new AML Authority to tightening rules in the US. This is Nigeria’s “mobile phone” moment. Just as the continent skipped landlines to go straight to mobile, Nigeria is leapfrogging the failing, manual era of compliance. 

By hard-coding AI and transparency into the banking system, Nigeria is making itself a much safer destination for global capital. This mandate turns compliance into a bridge for international trade rather than a barrier.

The platform, powered by C2FO and backed by the International Finance Corporation, connects suppliers, large companies and financial institutions on one system.

It allows businesses, especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), to access cash tied up in approved invoices without collateral.

At full scale, the platform is projected to generate between $25 billion and $30 billion in annual financing for businesses in Nigeria.

CycleFlow Nigeria Chairman, Segun Ogunsanya, says the launch is designed to solve a basic problem where many small businesses deliver goods or services and wait 60 to 120 days to get paid. During that period, they find it difficult to fund operations, pay staff or take new orders.

With this system, once an invoice is approved by a large buyer, the supplier can choose to receive payment early at a discounted rate. The money can come from banks or the buyers themselves.

Segun Ogunsanya, chairman of CycleFlow Nigeria, said the platform addresses a core challenge in the financial system.

“By enabling immediate access to funds locked in accounts receivable, we are not just financing businesses; we are powering economic growth across the entire ecosystem.”

Across Africa, MSMEs make up about 90% of businesses and account for up to 80% of employment. However, access to credit is still limited. In Nigeria, many of these businesses cannot meet bank requirements such as collateral or long credit histories.

CycleFlow takes the risk away from the small business and ties financing to the credit strength of the larger buyer. That structure allows suppliers to access funds faster and on better terms.

On the economic impact, data from the IFC shows that every $1 million in financing for small businesses can create an average of 16.3 direct jobs over two years.

At scale, the platform could support more than 480,000 direct jobs in Nigeria, with indirect employment running into millions.

Mohamed Gouled, IFC’s vice president for Products & Clients, said the model changes how businesses access capital.

“Millions of MSMEs across Africa are sitting on receivables they cannot convert into much-needed capital to grow and hire. This platform changes that equation.”

The system also removes several limitations common in traditional lending. There are no loan applications, no collateral requirements and no lengthy approval processes. Suppliers decide when to access funds and at what cost.

Alexander “Sandy” Kemper, founder and CEO of C2FO, said the launch in Nigeria marks the start of a bigger expansion.

“This launch kicks off our broader strategy to bring affordable liquidity solutions across Africa and other emerging markets worldwide.”

The platform already operates globally and processes millions of invoices daily. It has funded hundreds of billions of dollars in working capital to businesses since its launch.

CycleFlow’s launch in Nigeria comes as the government focuses on stronger support for small businesses. MSMEs are important to job creation and economic growth but still face funding constraints.

Linking buyers, suppliers and financiers in one system, the platform is expected to improve cash flow across supply chains and reduce delays that slow business activity.

SMEs no longer need to wait months to be paid, they can access their money in days.

Designed to enable businesses collect funds in naira or stablecoins and send payouts to the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria, the new system handles foreign exchange conversion instantly and locks in rates at the point of transaction.

For years, operators in this space have had to manage cash on two fronts. They collect in naira, then look for foreign currency elsewhere, while also keeping reserves ready for payouts. That process ties down capital and slows transactions.

Nomba says its new API removes that limitation by merging collection, conversion and disbursement into one flow. Once funds enter the system, either in naira or stablecoins such as USDT or USDC, conversion happens immediately and the payout begins without delay.

“Running a cross-border payments business from Nigeria has meant managing frozen liquidity on two fronts at the same time,” said Yinka Adewale, CEO, Nomba.

“Operators collect naira, then go source foreign currency, all while their customers are waiting. We built this API to collapse that operational complexity into a single transaction flow, and to give operators who want to remove naira exposure entirely the option to fund in stablecoins.”

Outlining how the payout routes work, the company noted that transfers to the UK go through Faster Payments, with settlement taking between one and three hours.

In Europe, SEPA transfers are completed in under one hour, while Canada supports Interac for instant transfers alongside bank payments. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, users can send money through mobile money or bank transfers, both processed instantly. Nigeria, meanwhile, is the base corridor.

Another feature is a five-minute exchange rate lock. This ensures the rate a customer sees at the start of a transaction stays the same at settlement, reducing disputes and unexpected losses.

The launch comes at a time when cross-border payments in Africa are expensive. On average, sending $200 costs about 7.9%, one of the highest rates globally. At the same time, stablecoins are gaining ground.

They now account for a large share of crypto transactions in sub-Saharan Africa, with Nigeria alone handling billions of dollars in volume over the past year.

On the regulatory aspect, Nigeria’s tax policies treat foreign exchange conversions, service fees and digital charges as taxable events since the start of 2026. This is forcing payment companies to build systems that can handle compliance automatically.

Nomba, which started in 2016 as Kudi, has moved from agency banking into payment infrastructure. In 2025, it processed N122 billion across 1.85 million transactions. Its virtual accounts now account for most of its API activity.

With the new Global Payout API, Nomba is targeting a long-standing problem in the market, cutting out the need to hold funds in multiple currencies at once. The company is ensuring payment firms can move faster and operate with less capital tied up.

The system removes the need for international card networks and reduces processing costs by as much as 80%. It is already live for selected merchants.

One of the early users is a Lagos-based skincare brand founded by a Nigerian entrepreneur. In 60 days, the company recorded hundreds of transactions across its store and online channels. Out of that figure, almost half the transactions came from UK customers paying in pounds.

Between December 10, 2025 and February 8, 2026, the brand received several thousand pounds from more than a hundred unique buyers in the UK. The business also recorded steady growth in its monthly GBP collections, showing high demand from customers abroad.

The entrepreneur said the system simplified how she manages payments across markets.

“Before Nomba, I was juggling Stripe for my UK customers, a separate POS provider for my Lagos store, and a different bank account for transfers,” she said.

“Now everything is in one place. My UK customers pay in pounds from their banking app, I see it instantly, and I can manage my entire business, Lagos and London, from one dashboard. It’s changed everything for me.”

Until now, many Nigerian businesses selling to UK customers relied on card payments processed through platforms such as Stripe.

Fees typically included 2.9% plus 30p for processing, a 1.5% cross-border charge, about 2% for currency conversion and roughly 0.5% to cover chargeback risks. In total, merchants could lose between 6.4 and 7.4% on each transaction.

On £5,522 in sales, that would amount to about £353 in fees.

Under the new arrangement between Nomba and Volume, payments move through the UK’s Faster Payments system using Open Banking.

Customers select bank transfer at checkout, choose their bank and authorise the payment in their banking app using biometric verification or a PIN. There are no card details involved and no chargebacks once payment is approved.

At roughly 1% processing cost, a brand would have paid about £55 on the same £5,522 volume. That means savings of around £298 in two months.

Nomba’s chief executive said the partnership aligns with the company’s goal.

“We built Nomba to give African businesses world-class financial infrastructure. When a customer can run her entire business, POS in Lagos, GBP collections from London, business banking, all of it, from a single platform, that’s the vision coming to life.

“Partnering with Volume to enable direct GBP bank collections means our merchants no longer lose 6–7% of their revenue just because their customers are in a different country.”

A senior executive at Volume added: “Volume’s mission is to make bank payments the default way to pay online. Seeing a Lagos-based beauty entrepreneur collect payments directly from UK bank accounts, with zero chargebacks and a fraction of the cost, is a powerful demonstration of Open Banking’s potential to reshape cross-border commerce.”

The United Kingdom hosts more than 1.5 million people of Nigerian descent. Many run businesses or buy products across both markets. For small brands, fees on cross-border card payments can limit growth.

With this integration with Volume, merchants can receive pounds directly into their Nomba GBP accounts, hold, convert or pay out the funds from the same dashboard used for their Nigerian operations.

For brands, it means one system for Lagos and one for London no longer applies. Everything now sits in one place.

The event took place on Friday at the company’s headquarters in Victoria Island where senior executives, brand leads and agency partners attended, alongside journalists and content creators.

The advert premiere also outlined a wider marketing drive across television, radio, digital and outdoor platforms. Cherry Eromosele, executive vice-president for Marketing and Communications at Interswitch, said the campaign reiterates the company’s belief that payments should work seamlessly in the background of daily life.

“At Interswitch, we have always believed that payment should be a seamless part of everyday life, and therefore our brands Verve and Quickteller reflect this philosophy every day,” she said.

She described Quickteller as a platform built for people who take action. “The mindset of the Quickteller customer is that of a go-getter. The typical Quickteller customer doesn’t sit and wait for things to happen to them. They run it.”

The new Quickteller commercial centres on that message. It shows everyday situations where people move quickly, solve problems and keep going. Bills get paid, transfers go through, and opportunities are taken without delay. The campaign theme is “Run It!”.

Eromosele said the advert salutes what she called the “can do spirit” of African consumers and shows how the platform supports transactions “at the speed of topped for our users across multiple transaction channel touch points.”

Alongside Quickteller, Interswitch also introduced a new brand commercial for Verve, its card scheme with more than 100 million cards in circulation across Africa.

“We couldn’t be prouder of how far we’ve come with Verve as a brand,” she said, describing it as “African most successful indigenous Payment Card Scheme.”

The Verve advert focuses on what executives repeatedly called the African spirit.

“So what’s the African spirit? The African spirit is vibrant. It’s beautiful. Is undaunted and focused on enjoying the good life,” she said.

The commercial carries the line, “Verve makes infinite red seamless, because when we show up for each other, that’s when we truly live this is the good life.”

The event stressed that Verve goes beyond payments, pointing to VerveLife, its fitness and wellness platform, which has run for eight years and engages consumers around healthy living.

Chidi Okpala, who leads growth marketing for payment tokens under the Verve brand, said the business has grown by staying close to users.

“In fact, as we speak, we’re looking at about 115 million, and still counting, we have over 80 million active cards as we speak today,” he said, adding that Verve holds between 75 and 80% of Nigeria’s card market.

He linked that growth to feedback from customers. According to him, requests to use Verve cards on platforms such as Google Play and Netflix pushed the company into new partnerships.

“We got feedback like that, I want to be able to transact on Netflix with my record. That feedback we took seriously,” he said.

The event also addressed the creative process behind the campaigns. Tomi Ogunlesi, divisional head for Brands, Communications, Content and CSR, said the adverts were produced locally.

“For us, this was a deliberate creative decision underscoring Interswitch’s belief that African stories are best told by African voices,” he said.

“In an era where artificial intelligence is increasingly used to simulate storytelling, the team chose a different path, eschewing artificial intelligence (AI) in favour of organic, emotionally driven filmmaking that captures real faces, real places, and real emotions!”

The company confirmed that the Verve campaign will run across multiple African markets, while the Quickteller rollout will focus mainly on Nigeria.

Executives noted that Quickteller’s services differ by country, with Nigeria offering a bigger ecosystem that now includes transport bookings, flights, and property listings under Quickteller Homes.

They explained that users can rent apartments, book short lets and even buy land through the platform, adding that properties listed there are verified to reduce fraud.

The Interswitch management said the Quickteller and Verve TV commercials would begin airing in the coming days, stressing that payments should not interrupt life, but should simply work.

The acquisition gives the fintech, owned by Stripe, direct control over deposits and lending, areas where small businesses usually face challenges.

The newly formed Paystack Microfinance Bank (Paystack MFB) will start by lending to businesses before gradually offering services to consumers. It will also provide banking-as-a-service (BaaS) products to companies developing financial solutions and treasury tools. 

“After 10 years of building payment infrastructure and going deep, we realised that businesses needed more than just getting paid to grow,” Paystack COO Amandine Lobelle said. “We wanted to leverage the expertise that we have built over the last decade to continue to address some of the pain points that (businesses) have.”

Paystack MFB will operate independently alongside Paystack’s payments arm under the oversight of their US parent company. The two entities will collaborate within regulatory boundaries but maintain separate licences, governance, and product offerings. 

This structure allows Paystack to experiment with deposits and loans without taking on the costs or regulations of a full commercial banking licence.

The acquisition comes after Paystack’s consumer-facing initiatives, including the launch of the Zap payments app, and positions the company to tap into Nigeria’s $32 billion small business financing gap. 

In processing payments for over 300,000 businesses monthly, Paystack now has the data and infrastructure to offer loans, overdrafts, and merchant cash advances using live revenue flows rather than traditional financial statements.

“By having consistently high uptime, and making Paystack MFB the fastest, most dependable way to move money in and out of their account or to access it,” Lobelle said, outlining the strategy to make Paystack the primary bank account for businesses.

This approach sets Paystack apart from competitors. Digital-first banks like Kuda built deposits first, then layered in lending. Paystack starts from the infrastructure layer, using payment data to underwrite loans and optimise risk models. 

It will compete with traditional microfinance banks such as LAPO, Accion, and Baobab, as well as embedded-finance players including Moniepoint, OPay, PalmPay, and Kuda.

Despite the expansion, partnerships with commercial banks like Titan Trust for payment processing remain unchanged. Paystack MFB also operates independently of Brass, another business banking venture backed by Paystack-led investors. 

“Brass has its own team, investors. Just like any other financial services platform in Nigeria, Brass would be able to benefit from the banking-as-a-service services from Paystack MFB, but the two are independent,” Lobelle said.

In April 2025, the Central Bank of Nigeria fined Paystack ₦250 million ($190,000) for operating Zap as a wallet without approval. Regulatory clearance for Zap and now Paystack MFB emphasises the company’s compliance and points to trust from regulators in fintechs that meet standards.

Paystack’s strategy is to leverage its decade-long payments expertise to control more of the financial stack, address the SME funding gap, and build a bank that can scale with Nigeria’s internet economy. 

“By adding Paystack MFB to our family of brands, we’re finding the right balance through combining the rapid innovation of a tech-first platform with the stability of traditional banking,” Lobelle said.