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 transaction ties Africa’s largest payments company to the country’s most widely used open banking platform at a time when regulation, scale and survival are changing the fintech sector. 

People familiar with the deal say Mono’s investors will at least recover their capital, while some early backers walk away with returns of up to 20 times. Mono will continue to run as a standalone product.

Mono was founded in 2020 to solve a basic problem most African fintechs face, which is that banks do not easily share data. Through its APIs, customers can give consent for businesses to access bank information, verify accounts, analyse income and spending, and trigger payments. 

In a market where credit bureaus are thin and formal credit history is rare, transaction data has become the backbone of digital lending.

That model worked. Mono raised about $17.5 million from investors including Tiger Global, General Catalyst and Target Global. Its chief executive, Abdulhamid Hassan, says almost every digital lender in Nigeria now depends on Mono’s pipes. 

The company says it has enabled more than eight million bank account connections, reaching roughly 12% of Nigeria’s banked population, and has delivered around 100 billion data points to lenders. Its client list includes Visa-backed Moniepoint and GIC-backed PalmPay.

For Flutterwave, the logic is different but just as direct. The company already handles local and cross-border payments across more than 30 African countries. 

In March 2025, it raised $250 million in a Series D round that valued it at $3 billion, cementing its position as Africa’s most valuable startup. It also processed $31 billion in transactions in 2024. Payments alone, however, are no longer enough.

By acquiring Mono, Flutterwave moves deeper into onboarding, identity checks, bank verification, data-led risk assessment, and one-off or recurring bank payments, all within a single stack. This is more important now because Nigeria, its biggest market, has finally switched on open banking.

In August 2025, the Central Bank of Nigeria approved the country’s open banking framework, making Nigeria the first African nation to formally operationalise it. Banks are now required to share customer data through standardised APIs, as long as users give consent. That turns what Mono has been building quietly for years into regulated national infrastructure.

Flutterwave’s chief executive, Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola, describes the deal as a long-term play on how African finance will work. “Payments, data, and trust cannot exist in silos,” he said. “Open banking provides the connective tissue, and Mono has built critical infrastructure in this space.”

Hassan agrees that the timing is important. He argues that Africa is moving into a phase where credit, not just payments, will drive financial inclusion. But credit only works if lenders truly understand how people earn and spend, and if regulators trust the systems handling that data.

“If the economy is going to be credit-driven, you need deep data intelligence to know how people earn and spend,” Hassan said. “But at the same time, for open banking to really work, regulators need to be confident that customer funds are safe.”

That confidence is still forming. Open banking regulations across Africa are still uneven, and adoption will not happen overnight. 

However, joining Flutterwave gives Mono reach it could not easily build on its own. Flutterwave already operates with licences, compliance teams and enterprise customers across dozens of markets. When regulatory barriers fall, Mono’s tools can scale faster without rebuilding that groundwork country by country.

“This allows us to expand what’s possible for businesses operating across African markets while staying grounded in security, compliance, and local relevance,” Agboola said.

The deal also aligns with a change in African fintech. For years, startups chased the dream of becoming standalone giants. Funding was cheap, growth was rewarded, and consolidation was rare. That world has shifted. Capital is tighter. Regulation is heavier. Scale now matters more than ambition.

In South Africa, Lesaka Technologies bought payments firm Adumo for $96 million in 2024, pulling two major players into one platform. Analysts see Flutterwave and Mono following the same strategy, integration instead of isolation. Globally, the logic is familiar. 

Visa’s attempted $5.3 billion acquisition of Plaid in 2020, though blocked by US regulators, showed how valuable it can be to combine payment rails with data infrastructure.

Mono’s own journey reveals how competitive the space once was. When it launched, it faced companies like Okra and Stitch. Okra shut down in 2025. Stitch pivoted deeper into payments and raised more capital, changing its focus. That left Mono as the clear leader in Nigerian open banking APIs.

Hassan insists Mono was not pushed into a sale. According to PitchBook, the company raised $15 million in a Series A round in 2021 at a $50 million post-money valuation. 

He says Mono is well aligned to reach profitability this year and still has cash in the bank. Raising another round, he adds, would have meant fresh valuation pressure in a tough market.

There is also a shared history. Both companies are backed by Tiger Global, which led Flutterwave’s Series C and Mono’s Series A. Hassan says Tiger did not broker the deal. Instead, it grew from years of collaboration, with Flutterwave and Mono already working together on bank payment products long before acquisition talks began.

African fintech is entering a more mature phase. Infrastructure is consolidating and regulation is meeting up. 

Its cloud infrastructure product, Nebula, is also no more. And with both gone, one of the continent’s most ambitious tech stories has come to a quiet and unexpected end.

Okra Introduces Nebula: Africa’s Own Cloud Solution

The company, which raised over $16 million from global investors, officially ceased operations in May 2025. Fara Ashiru Jituboh, the co-founder and former CEO/CTO, confirmed the closure in a statement to Techpoint Africa:

“The company made the decision to wind down operations in May. It was an incredible journey; we built impactful technology, worked with some of the biggest brands across the continent, and helped pioneer open banking in Africa. I’m proud to have worked alongside some of the smartest and most talented people, and I’m deeply grateful for the community, customers, investors, and team who supported us over the past five years.”

Jituboh has since moved on to take up a new position as head of Engineering at the UK-based startup, Kernel, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

Her exit followed a series of quiet internal changes at Okra, including the departure of her co-founder, David Peterside, in 2022. Since then, no successor was publicly named, and by mid-2025, the startup was already off the radar of most in the ecosystem.

Founded in 2019, Okra set out to do something few African startups dared; build the core infrastructure powering open finance. Its APIs enabled users to link their Nigerian bank accounts to third-party applications in real time, offering services from identity verification to income and transaction data sharing.

That initiative attracted early backing, including $1 million from TLcom Capital and a $3.5 million seed round led by Susa Ventures, eventually pushing total funding beyond $16.5 million.

But scale didn’t guarantee survival. In October 2024, in response to high foreign exchange costs that made services like AWS and Azure increasingly expensive, Okra launched Nebula, a naira-denominated cloud platform aimed at local businesses.

Designed to offer Tier 3 and Tier 4 data centres, compliant with African data regulations and billed in local currency, Nebula was intended to reduce dependence on costly international services. It was an aggressive bet on infrastructure, competing against the likes of Nobus and Layer3.

However, tech giants quickly responded by enabling local billing and slashing prices, with AWS and Microsoft reportedly cutting rates by up to 20%. With that, any price advantage Nebula hoped to offer was gone, and customer adoption remained underwhelming.

By March 2025, Jituboh publicly admitted what many in tech were privately whispering, cloud expenses had become unsustainable: salaries aside, server costs were swallowing most of Okra’s revenue. 

The competitive space added further challenges. Startups such as Mono and Stitch, which raised $17.6 million and $52 million respectively, raced ahead in distribution, partnerships, and product sophistication. These rivals had deeper war chests and were able to move faster, often capturing the very market segments Okra once aimed for.

With no external capital infusion publicly announced after 2021, and an economic environment that continued to worsen, the signs were there. Few noticed.

What’s perhaps most notable is how quietly it all ended. No press release or farewell post. Just an update on LinkedIn and a quote to a reporter. For a company that once called itself the “Plaid of Africa,” it was a soft landing that belied the size of its dreams.

Before founding Okra, Jituboh had worked at Canva, BMW, and JP Morgan. She returned to Nigeria to solve a problem she’d experienced first-hand, fintech apps that didn’t connect to local banks. 

Okra’s solution was commendable, building the rails of open finance. And for a while, it worked. Its API usage surged by 175% in early 2020. Partnerships with platforms like Renmoney, Branch, Bamboo, and AIICO Insurance came quickly. Regulators took notice, investors followed.

But between currency depreciation, infrastructure strain, and the leadership vacuum post-2022, Okra’s speed slowly faded. The fintech space had grown more crowded and more difficult. Scaling in Africa without a deep-pocketed backer or profitable model remains a fierce challenge.

Okra’s closure repeats the fact that startups need staying power, but in Nigeria’s current economic situation, even the brightest ideas are fighting for breath.

With the advent of Open Banking, Fintech companies are presented with a wealth of opportunities to leverage data through Business Intelligence (BI) tools.

In this article, we explore the symbiotic relationship between Open Banking and BI in the Fintech industry and discuss strategies to effectively harness these opportunities.

Understanding Open Banking

Open Banking is a system that allows third-party financial service providers to access customer banking information, with the customer’s consent, through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which is essential for offering personalized financial services.

This creates a more interconnected financial ecosystem, enabling Fintech companies to develop innovative products and services by leveraging the data held by traditional banks.

When your application requires access to a customer’s banking data, it initiates a request to the bank’s system.

The request is structured in a manner compatible with the bank’s API, ensuring seamless communication.

Subsequently, the bank’s system processes the request, and the API facilitates the return of the response to your application, converting it into a format compatible with your application’s needs.

To enable your application to retrieve a customer’s banking data via the Open Banking API, the customer must grant explicit permission. This step is crucial for maintaining privacy and ensuring the security of the data.

Upon obtaining the necessary permission, the API can securely transfer the required data from the bank to your application.

The Role of Business Intelligence in Fintech

Business Intelligence involves the use of data analysis tools and techniques to make informed business decisions. In the context of Fintech and Open Banking, BI plays a crucial role in extracting actionable insights from the vast amounts of financial data available.

Here are some key ways BI empowers Fintech companies in the Open Banking domain.

1. Data Integration and Aggregation

BI tools can integrate and aggregate data from various sources, including banking APIs, to provide a comprehensive view of a customer’s financial operations.

This integrated data can be used to analyze spending patterns, income sources, and financial behaviors, enabling Fintech companies to tailor their services to individual customer needs.

2. Customer Segmentation

BI allows Fintech firms to segment customers based on their financial behavior, preferences, and needs. By understanding different customer segments, Fintech companies can personalize their offerings, improving customer satisfaction and engagement.

3. Risk Management

BI tools can analyze transactional data to identify potential risks and fraudulent activities. Leveraging BI for risk management therefore ensures that Fintech companies can enhance security measures and build trust among their user base.

4. Product Development and Innovation

Open Banking APIs provide Fintech firms access to real-time financial data, allowing them to develop innovative products and services.

BI tools assist in analyzing market trends, customer feedback, and competitive landscapes, aiding Fintech companies in designing products that meet evolving consumer demands.

5. Performance Monitoring

BI helps in tracking the performance of Fintech products and services by providing key performance indicators (KPIs) and actionable insights. Regular monitoring using BI ensures that Fintech companies can adapt to market changes and continuously optimize their offerings.

Strategies for Harnessing Opportunities

1. Invest in Robust BI Infrastructure

a. Scalable Solutions: Fintech companies should invest in scalable Business Intelligence (BI) infrastructure to handle the ever-growing volume of financial Cloud-based BI solutions offer scalability, allowing firms to effortlessly adapt to changing data volumes and demands.

This scalability is crucial as the financial landscape evolves rapidly, and Fintech firms need to ensure their BI systems can handle increased data loads without compromising performance.

b. Efficient Analysis: A robust BI infrastructure enables efficient analysis of vast financial datasets. This not only facilitates quicker decision-making processes but also empowers Fintech companies to derive meaningful insights from complex financial data.

The ability to extract actionable intelligence can be a key differentiator in a competitive market, allowing firms to identify opportunities and risks more

2. Collaborate with Traditional Banks

a. Access to Diverse Data Sources: Collaborative relationships with traditional banks provide Fintech companies with access to a broader range of financial This access can enhance the depth and diversity of information available for analysis, enabling more comprehensive insights into customer behavior, market trends, and financial patterns.

b. Mutually Beneficial Partnerships: Collaborations with traditional banks can lead to mutually beneficial partnerships. Fintech firms can offer innovative solutions to traditional banks, while banks can provide Fintech companies with the credibility and customer base they need to expand their services. This synergy fosters innovation in the financial sector, creating a win-win situation for both

3. Focus on Data Security and Compliance

a. Building Customer Trust: Given the sensitive nature of financial data, prioritizing data security and regulatory compliance is essential.

Fintech companies must establish and communicate robust data protection and privacy policies to build trust with customers.

Clear communication about security measures and compliance with regulations helps reassure customers that their financial information is handled with the utmost

b. Legal and Reputational Risks: Non-compliance with regulations not only poses legal risks but also threatens the reputation of Fintech firms.

By prioritizing data security and compliance, companies not only mitigate legal risks but also demonstrate a commitment to ethical business practices, further enhancing their reputation in the

4. Embrace Predictive Analytics

a. Proactive Decision-Making: Utilizing predictive analytics within BI tools allows Fintech companies to forecast market trends, customer behaviours, and potential.

This proactive approach to decision-making is invaluable in the dynamic financial sector, enabling firms to anticipate changes and position themselves strategically to capitalize on emerging opportunities or mitigate risks before they escalate.

b. Enhanced Customer Experience: Predictive analytics can also be employed to personalize services, improving the overall customer.

By analyzing historical data and predicting customer preferences, Fintech companies can tailor their offerings to individual needs, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

5. Continuous Training and Skill Development

a. Effective Utilization of BI Tools: Equipping the team with the necessary skills ensures the effective utilization of BI Continuous training programs help employees stay updated on the latest BI technologies and methodologies, maximizing the value extracted from Open Banking data.

This ongoing skill development is crucial as BI tools and technologies are continually evolving.

b. Adaptability and Innovation: A workforce with up-to-date skills is more adaptable to changes in the financial Continuous training fosters innovation within the team, encouraging the exploration of new ways to leverage BI tools for strategic advantage.

This adaptability is essential in a sector where technological advancements and market dynamics are constantly shifting.

Harnessing Open Banking Opportunities with Business Intelligence in Fintech comes with a ton of advantages, but it also presents its own set of challenges. Let’s explore both aspects.

Advantages:

• Access to Comprehensive Financial Data: Fintech companies gain access to a wealth of comprehensive financial data through Open Banking This enables a more holistic understanding of customer behavior, leading to personalized and targeted financial products and services.
• Enhanced Customer Experience: BI tools help analyze customer data to provide a more personalized experience. Fintech firms can tailor their offerings, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty by meeting individual needs more
• Innovative Product Development: Open Banking, coupled with BI, facilitates data-driven innovation in product and service Fintech companies can introduce innovative solutions, such as budgeting apps, investment tools, and predictive analytics-based services, based on real-time financial data.
• Improved Risk Management: BI tools assist in identifying potential risks and fraudulent activities in real-time. Fintech companies can enhance security measures and minimize financial risks, building trust and credibility among
• Operational Efficiency: BI enables streamlined operations by optimizing processes and Fintech firms can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and respond more rapidly to market changes and customer demands.
• Market Insights and Competitive Edge: BI tools provide insights into market trends, competitor strategies, and customer Fintech companies can make informed decisions, stay competitive, and position themselves as industry leaders by anticipating market shifts.

Challenges:

• Data Privacy and Security Concerns: Open Banking involves the sharing of sensitive financial data, raising concerns about data privacy and security. Fintech companies must invest in robust security measures, compliance with regulations, and transparent communication to build and maintain trust with
• Integration Complexity: Integrating diverse data sources from Open Banking APIs and other platforms can be complex. Fintech firms may face challenges in ensuring seamless data integration, potentially leading to operational disruptions and
• Regulatory Compliance: Compliance with evolving regulatory frameworks related to Open Banking is a significant challenge. Staying compliant requires ongoing efforts, and non-compliance can result in legal consequences, impacting the
• Data Quality and Accuracy: Ensuring the accuracy and quality of the data obtained from various sources is a challenge. Inaccurate data can lead to flawed analyses, potentially resulting in poor decision-making and compromised business
• Costs of Implementation and Maintenance: Implementing and maintaining BI infrastructure can be resource-intensive. Fintech companies must carefully manage costs to ensure a positive return on investment and sustainable
• Talent Acquisition and Training: Acquiring and retaining skilled professionals who can effectively use BI tools may be Insufficient expertise can limit the full potential of BI, necessitating ongoing training and development initiatives.

The intersection of Open Banking and Business Intelligence represents a transformative era for the Fintech industry.

Firms that adeptly harness the power of BI in conjunction with Open Banking APIs stand to gain a competitive edge by offering personalized, innovative, and secure financial solutions.

By adopting a strategic approach and investing in the right technology and talent, Fintech companies can navigate the evolving landscape, unlocking new opportunities and delivering unparalleled value to their customers.

Looking forward, the prospects for Open Banking are promising and brimming with potential. The rise of trends such as the incorporation of AI and blockchain, coupled with the flourishing API economy, is creating fresh opportunities for innovation.

Fintechs that swiftly embrace these trends will not merely endure but also spearhead the transformation of financial services.

Online shopping is on the increase in South Africa, with a recent Deloitte study noting that up to 70% of the country is making purchases in this way.

With this rise in online payments, the risk of exposing personal and confidential information, such as banking login details, to third parties has also risen sharply. It’s therefore no surprise that 86% of people are concerned about data privacy and security.

Worryingly, criminals can now more effortlessly steal personal data when payments are made, due to the use of screen scraping, where sensitive customer banking information is taken during transactions.

This has even set off alarm bells at the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). The IFWG has stressed the importance of taking greater action in the online payment space, citing that it is critical to balance consumer protection and innovation.

The risks can no longer be ignored, which is why open banking has emerged as a solution – one that must be considered by all financial institutions in the country.

The Source of the Scamming

In South Africa, consumers are heavily reliant on their mobile phones to shop online. However, in many cases consumers need their physical card on hand or have to switch between their banking app and the merchant’s site to enter their card details manually.

Additionally, some online stores don’t accept card payments due to the unaffordability of card commission fees and only allow Instant EFT payments, which force consumers to share sensitive bank account login details when paying online. Herein lies the risk.

This process exposes consumers to screen scraping which can allow harvesting of personal data.

Additionally, some instant EFT providers share customer information, increasing the concerns expressed by industry bodies.

Screen scraping businesses have full access to your internet banking and can mine personal information, including banking statements, debit orders, and salary.

The usage terms and conditions of some well-known screen-scraping businesses even mention that the personal data they harvest can be shared or sold. Making matters worse is that this harvested data is stored in the cloud and most likely in other countries.

Sharing internet banking login information is the equivalent of walking into a store, then handing your card and pin to a well-dressed stranger, allowing them to leave with it to withdraw cash on your behalf and return with the money, so you can pay the store – trusting that this is simply part of the payment process.

Compounding the concerns is Social Engineering, yet another risk factor consumers face, as they are manipulating and influenced by savvy hackers to hand over sensitive information through the phone, email and social media to gain illegal access. 

A Solution Open to All

To help address the need for secure EFT payments, Capitec enlisted Pay@, a leading payments aggregator in South Africa, to ensure enhanced security and convenience would be at the core of the Capitec Pay offering.

This collaboration led to the launch of Capitec Pay.  The solution makes full use of the alternative to screen scraping, Open Banking, which allows secure access for payment providers to request payment from a customer. In this scenario, there is no stranger able to take advantage of gaps or loopholes.

A proof of concept (POC) was launched in February 2022 after Pay@ processed the first successful Capitec Pay transaction in December 2021. The POC provided secure payments to over two million Capitec customers in South Africa during the last 12 months and offered a trusted alternative to sharing their card or banking login credentials with third parties.

Essentially, customers can make payments directly by simply opening their Capitec banking App and approving the payment.

The Application Programming Interface (API) implemented by Capitec enables third-party providers to securely initiate payment requests to Capitec clients, while allowing them to choose the account they want to pay from and authenticate the payment safely through the banking app.

The need to use screen scrapping is alleviated.

The Results are Remarkable

Since the launch, there has been exponential growth in the number of transactions processed month-on-month via Capitec Pay.

The rapid adoption rate highlights that a need is being addressed. To achieve it Pay@ played the role of the bridge to the consumer, reacting swiftly to feedback and implementing changes to fully test the capabilities of Capitec Pay API.

This allowed Capitec to experiment in a safe and controlled manner. Pay@, already an enabler for billers and their customers for the payment of bills including satellite tv, municipal bills, telco accounts, insurance, or traffic fines, has used the Capitec collaboration to develop their technology even further.

According to Pay@’s Clinton Leask, “It’s essential that consumers not only feel protected from fraud, but actually are. Working closely with Capitec by securely testing efficiency and measuring success rates, we have taken a massive stride forward to securing the details and livelihoods of South Africans.

It is a level of care that we have also implemented with EFT payments that are shielded from data breaches.

We believe that collaborating with banks to better secure their customers is vitally important to the economy.” Additionally, Capitec has further enabled Pay@ to process payments directly in the Capitec App under the Pay Bills section.

Expanding the Concept is Vital

While reviewing screen scraping, regulators such as SARB have proposed policy changes in respect of open banking.

 According to SARB’s November 2020 paper, “a new class of third-party providers, with access to customers’ financial information, should be introduced to improve offerings for customers, increase competition, and promote innovation. ‘Good’ permissible open-banking practices must be distinguished.” 

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) expanded on this view in their 2020 survey to uncover sentiments and perspectives around financial data.

They concluded that before consumer financial data is shared, informed consent between the consumer, financial service provider and third-party provider needs to have been obtained. Consumers need to be fully aware of terms and conditions of what they are consenting to and how their data will be used to serve them.

Clearly, policymakers, development partners, governments, and financial institutions must work together to develop more inclusive financial services for all South Africans – with security right at the top of the list of priorities.

Currently, nearly one in four South Africans are unbanked, with cash seen by many as safer or even more affordable. To enhance accessibility and instil trust, more inclusive financial service technologies must be introduced. For the over 11 million people that already use Capitec’s digital channels, Capitec Pay and the innovation that comes with it, translates into a banking experience that’s safer, secure, and infinitely more accessible. Pay@, through Capitec Pay is fully utilising open banking by harnessing the convenience of unique facial biometric scans and cardless online payments.

“Pay@ was progressive in their understanding of the payment industry and had the foresight to see how our product idea would solve a shared problem. They were willing to test the customer journey and their willingness to switch. This has proven to be a complete success. Our collaboration on Capitec Pay led to invaluable learnings, which helped to significantly improve the product and client experience to reduce drop-offs and abandonment rates, increase first-time conversions and very importantly, reduce the likelihood of fraud, “said Capitec’s Jerome Passmore.

The fact is, financial services are a significant enabler of social and economic development and therefore policymakers, development partners, governments and financial institutions alike need to work together to make strides in developing safe and secure products, especially at a time of economic instability.

It is critical to continue the evolution of fintech innovation, with regulators working hand in hand with financial institutions to decrease fraud, while finding new pathways to greater financial inclusion in the economy.

As banks continue to work with fintechs, the industry can focus on greater levels of transparency, informed consent and data security. Ultimately, with the industry rising to the risks, fintech innovation can safely unlock a new world of infinite possibilities.

In Nigeria, the term “open banking” refers to data sharing throughout the nation’s banking and payment systems.

The purpose of the project is “to foster innovations and widen the range of financial goods and services available to bank customers,” according to the policy establishing Open Banking.

It also recognises the right of the customer “to grant authorisations to service providers for the purpose of accessing innovative financial products and services”.

Open Banking can be used to access customers’ information in relation to Agency Banking, Financial Inclusion, Know Your Customer (KYC), credit scoring/rating etc.

The CBN said the guidelines are anticipated to drive competition and improve accessibility to financial and payments services.

Specifically, the CBN has warned participants in Open Banking to “adhere strictly to security standards when accessing and storing data, and to observe minimum privacy, operational, customer experience and risk management standards as prescribed by the Bank”.

With regards to those that will operate in the Open Banking ecosystem, the CBN has identified “any organisation that has data of customers which may be exchanged with other entities for the purpose of providing innovative financial services within Nigeria.

“Entities participating in Open Banking are categorised into two. They: API Provider (AP): this refers to a participant that uses Application Programming Interface (API) to avail data or service to another participant.’’

Mono was selected alongside other four companies that will join the network of more than 300 startups that have participated in the award-winning Start Path startup engagement program.

They will have an opportunity to engage with Mastercard’s ecosystem of banks, merchants, partners, and digital players across the globe to deliver and scale open banking solutions.

TechEconomy understands that Mastercard had launched the Start Path Open Banking global program to engage open banking startups on their path to scale, uncover unique opportunities to co-innovate, and powerful experiences that enable consumer choice.

The companies handpicked for this inaugural class (Dapi, Finantier, mmob, Mono and Paywallet) – demonstrate strong synergies with Mastercard’s tech-driven approach and are committed to putting consumers and small businesses at the center of where and how their financial data is used to further access services they want and need.

During the three-month program, startups will have an opportunity to leverage Mastercard’s open banking expertise and market insights and learn more about the company’s open banking platforms through wholly-owned subsidiaries Finicity and Aiia.

As an early advocate of open banking across the globe, Mastercard has bolstered its open banking capabilities by blending its proprietary technology and expertise with the complementary services of Finicity and Aiia.

Mastercard’s market-leading technology platforms, data connectivity and infrastructure, combined with strong data privacy and security principles, provide a global infrastructure that is catalyzing innovation and creating solutions that meet customers where they are.

“Open banking is a natural progression of how Mastercard has always embraced innovation and consumer trust with equal measure, and how we’ve remained a trusted partner for our customers,” said Blake Rosenthal, Executive Vice President, Fintech & Segment Solutions at Mastercard.

“We are thrilled to launch the Start Path Open Banking program and welcome five high-growth startups from around the world to collaborate with us and accelerate open banking innovation.”

From making financial services accessible for all to providing the tools businesses need to build next-generation financial products, the following fast-growing open banking companies have been selected to join the Start Path Open Banking program:

The new platform provides a comprehensive view of payments insights, competitive intelligence and industry trends for banks and financial institutions across the world and now within the Middle East and Africa.

In the Middle East and Africa (MEA), the platform enables a comparison of over 300 cards from five key markets, access to market reports, analysis of global and regional leading fintechs and thought leadership on key payment industry and technology trends, such as Open Banking and Blockchain.

Mastercard Market Trends provides a simple, curated view of reliable research – all in one place.

“Access to relevant insights, data, and analytics to inform smart decisions is critical to business success. Mastercard Market Trends offers a one-stop shop for financial institutions to access key information, which will allow for better decision-making and results. The platform brings together the latest market, industry and consumer insights, enabling financial institutions to really understand their customers and confidently embrace the constant evolution in how people shop and pay,” said Dimitrios Dosis, President, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Mastercard.

Mastercard Market Trends includes five key features:

1. Market Assessment: easy-to-access reports providing insights into socio-economic, payment and digital KPI data curated at local level by Mastercard teams with five key MEA markets (Egypt, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates) analyzed in detail.

2. Card Comparison: filtering and benchmarking features of card products issued by different schemes and issuers to help users understand the current MEA competitive landscape. This includes an overview of key metrics and features at the local level. More than 6,000 cards are available for comparison from 62 countries across the world.

3. Consumer Research: access to research studies commissioned by Mastercard globally and regionally to provide insight across a wide range of topics

4. New Payment Experience: analysis of leading regional and global Fintechs and best practices to help inform strategies in a constantly evolving payments landscape e.g., use cases and company profiles.

5. Industry Insight: access to our repository of videos, studies and global thought leadership on technology trends that are shaping the industry.

This platform is the latest offering from Mastercard Data & Services and is available now for issuers and acquirers across the Middle East and Africa by accessing the Mastercard Market Trends website  with their Mastercard Connect credentials.

Mastercard Market Trends, after a successful launch in Europe, the Americas and Asia, is slated to see further expansion through 2022.

Seeing as the world gradually anticipates the ‘next normal’ following the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to have a critical look at the global fintech landscape and draw insights on its possible trajectory in 2022.

Is the global fintech space on track to achieve that valuation? Are African fintechs pulling the needed weight to command a huge chunk of the $324 billion mark? How can the Nigerian fintech ecosystem leverage the trends and data to achieve encompassing growth?

On the 10th of February 2022, the Fintech Association of Nigeria (FintechNGR), would be hosting the Fintech Outlook 2022, an annual intellectual webinar that attempts to take a 360 overview of the global fintech space, what it portends globally and how Nigeria and Africa as a whole are drawing on requisite insights to leapfrog the industry.

In addition to key industry presentations, the webinar would unearth and discuss trends, and forecasts across fintech verticals; lending, payment, mobile money, banking, infrastructure, regulation, partnerships, skillsets, wealthtech, insurtech, cybersecurity, data privacy, open banking, decentralized finance and other areas.

Amidst other considerations, it would also delve into the threats, opportunities, success factors, major drivers, key technology that can significantly shift the industry trajectory in 2022.

The speakers joining us for the Fintech Outlook 2022 includes Ade Bajomo, President FintechNGR, Mitchell Elegbe, CEO, Interswitch Nigeria, Premier Oiwoh, CEO, NIBSS, Odunayo Eweniyi, CEO, Piggyvest, Daniel Awe, Head, Africa Fintech Foundry, Yinka Edu, Partner, UUBO, Dr David Isiavwe, President, ISSAN-Nigeria and Nkebet Mesele, Senior Director (Sub-Saharan Africa), VISA.

Participation

To participate during the webinar you are required to pre-register through the link HERE.

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Also happening at the Fintech Outlook 2022 is the launch of its Startup Marketplace, an innovative platform by FintechNGR that provides startups playing in the fintech ecosystem access to free and heavily discounted services in funding, legal, infrastructure, cybersecurity, data privacy, business development, and a variety of other areas, to accelerate their growth.

Fintech Association of Nigeria (FintechNGR), the pioneer national fintech association in Africa and founding member of Africa Fintech Network (A Network of thirty-four (34) National Fintech Associations in Africa), member Global Fintech Hub Federation has been at the fore-front, connecting stakeholders, accelerating fintech growth and impact, promoting and advocating for conducive environment for fintech to thrive and adoption of emerging technologies.

For enquiries or partnerships, send a mail to exec.sec@fintechng.org or call +234 903 000 3013 or visit the website.