The Lagos-based startup has moved beyond its roots in community lending to build a regulated financial ecosystem that connects Africa’s informal savings culture with formal banking infrastructure.

The rebrand comes with two key acquisitions, AjoMoney, a digital group-savings platform, and Zazzau Microfinance Bank, which now operates as Rank Microfinance Bank. 

The dual acquisition makes Rank one of the first Nigerian fintechs to merge social trust networks with a regulated framework, enabling it to offer savings, payments, and investment services to communities rather than individuals.

With a Central Bank of Nigeria Tier 2 microfinance licence, Rank can now accept deposits, disburse loans, and offer treasury-backed savings. The company has also integrated with the NIBSS Instant Payment system (NIP), allowing users to send and receive money in real time. 

“We can now go beyond savings to payments,” said Femi Iromini, CEO of Rank. “We can go into investing. And we are seeing the interests already.”

Rank’s first product, a high-yield group savings plan, leverages the power of trusted networks such as traders’ associations and cooperatives. 

In a pilot involving 10,000 participants, the platform delivered over ₦16 billion ($11.25 million) in payouts, with funds invested in treasury bills and money markets generating up to 23% annual returns. 

Participants contributed a minimum of ₦150,000 ($100) each, pooling resources through a system rooted in the familiar “ajo” and “esusu” models of collective savings.

The company’s rebrand from Moni to Rank also aims to digitise Africa’s centuries-old community finance systems and transform them into scalable, wealth-building tools. 

According to Iromini, Rank intends to build beyond savings and loans by introducing payments and investment products that serve the collective strength of communities. 

“We have done the experiment, and we learned a lot,” he said. “There is still more we can do with communities. For instance, we can create products around people being able to make payments together.”

The leadership teams of AjoMoney and Zazzau MFB have now joined Rank, bringing product depth and regulatory experience under one structure.

For Ibrahim Adepoju, CEO of AjoMoney, the partnership represents a natural evolution: “We modernised one of Africa’s oldest financial traditions, rotating savings and credit associations, and brought it into the digital era. Passing this vision to the Rank team is a natural next step.”

Similarly, Mohammed Usman, director at Zazzau Microfinance Bank, said, “The vision of a money app for communities is something that really excites us. We are happy to be part of this journey.”

Rank’s approach distinguishes it from older fintechs like Piggyvest and Cowrywise, which focus on individuals. Instead, Rank is betting on the collective, people who already trust one another and have long practised shared finance. 

“In reality, they are entrusting us with their money,” Iromini said. “Having the right backing when it comes to a license actually helps a lot with that.”

With over ₦67 billion ($46.62 million) in previous loan disbursements and a 96% repayment rate, Rank’s foundation in community trust is solid.

It cannot be overemphasized that capital is a vital ingredient for economic growth, but since most nations cannot meet their total capital requirements from internal resources alone, they turn to foreign investors.

For instance, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), since the first quarter of this year, has sold trillions worth of treasury bills at near record interest rates in a move to mop up excess cash liquidity in the economy in a bid to tame inflation.

The interest rate on CBN’s Treasury bills have ranged between 19 per cent and 22 per cent near the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) of 24.75 per cent.

Meanwhile, going by the outcome of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on March 26, 2024, had led to raise in the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 200 basis points to 24.75 per cent from 22.75 per cent; and retention of Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) of Deposit Money Banks at 45.0 per cent pose a major risk to the financial intermediate role of banks in the Nigerian economy.

This seems to pose a constraint to the capacity of the banks to support economic growth and investment, especially in the real sector of the economy because the increases are quite significant.

Although, analyst  have urged the apex bank to reconsider its decision on interest rate hike.

According to Dr. Chinyere Almona,  the director-general of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the apex bank should  reconsider its decision on interest rate hike.

She acknowledged the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) goals of curbing inflation and stabilising the exchange rate as praiseworthy but emphasised the need for these objectives to be achieved without impeding private sector endeavours and economic expansion.

Almona highlighted that the rate hike policy of the apex bank particularly impacted Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), pointing out that SMEs, which typically operate on narrow profit margins, depend significantly on access to cost-effective credit to maintain their business activities and foster growth.

In her words: “the recent hikes in the MPR have directly translated into higher interest rates, making it more expensive for businesses to access credit for working capital, expansion, and sustainability.

“We have consistently advised that rate hikes alone will not curb inflation without resolving challenges of the real sector of the economy. The real sector has demonstrated the capacity to create more jobs, manufacture products for consumption and export, and sustain the industrial base of the economy.

“While we understand that high-interest rates attract Foreign Portfolio Investments and local investors to treasury bills and bonds, we lament the drying up of funds away from the private sector to government treasuries.”

On his part, Dr. Muda Yusuf, the  chief executive officer  of Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE),  explained that bank lending has been constrained by the high CRR, saying, “the credit situation in the economy is already very tight, with lending rate ranging between 25 -30 per cent.

The Nigerian banks are yet to live up to their financial inter-mediation role because of these constraining factors.”

According to Yusuf, the new dramatic increase in MPR to 22.5 per cent hike means that the cost of credit to the few private sector that have exposure to bank credits will increase which will impact their operating costs, prices of their products and profit margins, amidst very challenging operating conditions.

“It is thus imperative for the CBN to accelerate the process of increased capitalization of the development finance institutions to create a concessionary financing window for the real sector and the small businesses,” he said

Whatever your answer is/are, you are absolutely entitled to it. But one thing is sure; MONEY makes life easy, or let me say Money Makes sense.

And you can and should make some for yourself and acquaintances. I strongly believe that dealings in Treasury Bills can offer you a slow, steady, sure, predictable and reliable route to making appreciable money for yourself.

 Here are quick facts you will know from this piece:

• What is A Treasury Bill
• How and where can I buy Treasury Bills?
• Benefits of Treasury Bills
• Treasury Bills Maturity life span

Before I unleash the secret, let’s talk a bit about money, If Money makes life go around, it has already implied that it is central to the doings of man on earth.

I may not be able to guarantee its practicability in the great beyond. But what a minutes, and for the religious minded, there seems to be a reference to heaven, as a place tinted with gold in the good book “the Bible”

It would shock you to know there are roughly 2,350 verses concerning money in the Bible? That’s almost twice as many as verses about faith and prayer combined. Jesus had a lot to say about money: Nearly 15% of everything Jesus spoke about related to money and possessions.

So you think it is a coincidence?

A study by the American RAND Corporation has established that a country’s power is dependent upon three variables: wealth, innovation and conventional military capabilities.

Wealth, as expressed by GDP therefore provides independence, can be used to put pressure on opponents and offers a good starting point for negotiations.

Hence, the place of Money cannot be overemphasized!

So what are Treasury Bills? T-bills are short-term government debt instruments issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria with a maturity period between 91 to 364 days and sold through an auction at a discount price, such that the interest earned by the investor is the difference between the price paid at purchase and the bill’s face value which is the final amount received at maturity.

Treasury bills are usually issued by the government to fund independent operations and special projects. When a treasury bill is about to be auctioned, an advertisement is published in advance in national newspapers, inviting bids from interested investors.

Treasury Bills Auction: T-bills auction uses a Dutch auction system, which works by receiving all bids for an item before determining the highest price at which the item can be sold.

During the auction of treasury bills in Nigeria, bidders quote the discount rate they are willing to pay for each tenor of treasury bills.

After receiving the bids, CBN accepts the lowest bids first, climbing higher until it has accepted the total amount it seeks to raise for the issued treasury bills.

This final rate is selected by the CBN as the maximum discount price also known as the stop rate. Any investor whose bid is lower or equal to the maximum rate is accepted while quotes above the stop rate are outbid. Investors below the stop rate get the rate that they bid at.

Here’s an example: Let’s say the CBN seeks to raise N100 million for a single T-bills issue and receives the following quotes for a 364-day tenor:

N10 million at 5.85%, N15 million at 5.98%, N10 million at 6% $25 million at 6.25% $20 million at 6.47% $30 million at 6.95%, $50 million at 7% CBN will accept the lowest bids until a total of N100 million has been accepted which will fall within the 6.95% bid.

However, only N20 million will be accepted from this bid, while bids higher than this will be rejected. All bidders including those with initially lower bids will receive a discount rate of 6.95%.

Maturity: The maturity period for treasury bills is 91, 182 and 364 days. At maturity, the face value of the treasury bills is automatically repaid to the account of the investor by the CBN through an Authorized Dealer like banks and investment brokers.

Treasury bills also retain high liquidity, so Investors also have the choice to sell their treasury bills before the maturity date.

However, a resale of your treasury bill could require a rediscounting of the bills which will generally reduce its value and might lead to a loss of the interest earned.

Where Can I Buy Treasury Bills?

Treasury bills are sold in two ways in Nigeria:

The first is through a primary market, which is directly from the CBN and requires a minimum purchase sum of N50 million. Primary market buyers can only buy treasury bills when there is a new issue from the government.

The second way to trade treasury bills in Nigeria is to make purchases through authorized dealers like banks, discount houses and stockbrokers. In the secondary market, previously issued bills are traded and can be bought or resold at any time. However, tenors of the T-bills traded on the secondary market are shorter than the original tenors.

How are Interests Paid on Treasury Bills in Nigeria?  

Treasury bills are sold at a discount value and carry a fixed interest which is the difference between how much was paid for the bill and how much is returned at maturity. If an investor purchases treasury bills worth N20,000 at a discount price of 5%, they only pay N19,000 at the point of purchase but receive a repayment total of N20,000 at maturity.

Benefits of Treasury Bills Trading in Nigeria   

There are several advantages to investing in treasury bills; here are the most popular:

• Income on investment is tax-free.
• Government-backed and has Zero default risk
• The low minimum investment value of N10,000
• Treasury bills have high liquidity and can be bought or sold at any time in the secondary market
• Fixed and guaranteed income

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), total debt as of March 31, 2022, was N41.60trn, or $100.07bn, which represents the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the thirty-six state governments, and the Federal Capital Territory

Now the CBN wants to use treasury bills, which are usually short-term instruments to borrow money from the public on behalf of the Federal Government. Also, the CBN uses treasury bills to control the money supply in the economy.

According to CBN, the treasury bills would be issued in tranches with the first tranche rolled out on June 2, 2022, while the last tranche is scheduled for August 25, 2022.

During the period, the apex bank will issue treasury bill worth N33.4 billion on 91 days; N22.9 billion on 182 days, and N1.17 trillion on 364 days.

A breakdown of the program revealed that in June, the apex bank plans to sell N376.05 billion worth of treasury bills, comprising N22 billion worth of 91 days bills, N4.05 billion worth of 182 days bills, and N350 billion worth of 364 days bills.

In July, CBN plans to sell N407.48 billion worth of treasury bills comprising N6.7 billion worth of 91 days bills, N4.98 billion worth of 182 bills, and N395.8 billion worth of 364 days bills.

In August, CBN plans to sell N446.12 billion worth of treasury bills comprising N4.57 billion worth of 91 days bills; N12.85 billion worth of 182 bills, and N428.7 billion worth of 364 days bills.