The unveiling took place at the 2026 Verve Biz Unwind held at the Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel in Lagos.

The event served as a high-level forum for banks, fintech innovators, merchants, and payment processors to discuss the future of the continent’s payment landscape.

The Move to Secure Transactions

Verve Tokenization arrives at a time when digital commerce is experiencing rapid growth, driven by contactless payments and embedded finance. The new solution works by replacing sensitive cardholder information with unique, device-bound digital tokens.

How it works: Every transaction generates a unique cryptogram, ensuring that actual card details are never exposed during the payment process.

By eliminating the transmission of raw card data, the solution significantly lowers the risk of data breaches and fraudulent activities, providing a more secure environment for both consumers and merchants.

Collaboration as a Growth Driver

Speaking at the event, Paul Ohakim, vice president, Issuing & Acquiring (Africa) at Verve International, emphasized that the complexity of the modern financial ecosystem requires a unified approach.

“As digital commerce accelerates, no single institution can shape the future of payments alone. Stronger collaboration between banks, fintechs, merchants, and processors is essential to delivering secure, seamless, and inclusive payment experiences across Africa,” Ohakim stated.

He further noted that tokenization is not merely a backend upgrade but a structural shift in how payments are secured and monetized.

The technology enables a single Verve card to function securely across multiple digital environments, including wallets, banking apps, and e-commerce checkouts, without sacrificing user convenience.

What This Means for the Ecosystem

The 2026 edition of Verve Biz Unwind highlighted several key trends currently transforming the industry:

• Accelerated Contactless Adoption: Increasing demand for faster, “tap-and-go” payment methods.
• Open Banking Frameworks: The shift toward more integrated and transparent financial data sharing.
• Real-time Payments: The rising consumer expectation for instantaneous transaction processing.

By introducing tokenization, Verve aims to future-proof Africa’s payment infrastructure, ensuring it remains resilient against evolving cyber threats while supporting the scale of digital trade.

The partnership, also involving Sterling Bank, has continued to make progress as hundreds of thousands of the LAG IDs have been distributed to residents of Lagos State.

Verve, Africa’s leading payment card and digital token brand, reaffirms its commitment to continue collaborating with the Lagos State Government in developing cutting-edge solutions to enhance the digital payment experience for both Lagos residents and Verve cardholders.”

The firm expressed its commitment to working closely with the Lagos State Government to develop innovative solutions that address the evolving needs of Lagos residents, aiming to drive economic and technological development across the megacity.

The firm said its partnership with the Lagos State Government to relaunch the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA) identity card underscores its commitment to enriching the lives of Lagos residents and of course Nigerians through seamless and secure payment solutions.

LAG ID cardholders can now conveniently receive and make payments via ATMs, POS terminals, and online platforms.

Vincent Ogbunude, managing director at Verve International, said,

“At Verve, we are dedicated to working with Lagos Government and empowering Lagos residents through strategic partnerships that redefine their digital payment experience. By leveraging partnerships, we are providing residents with cutting-edge payment solutions that enhance convenience, security, and accessibility, ultimately shaping a brighter financial future for all.”

In addition to the collaboration with LASRRA, Verve continues to enrich the lives of Lagos residents through various initiatives such as the Verve Life and the Verve Good Life Promo.

Verve Good Life Promo, which has been consistently running for four years, is designed to reward consumer loyalty by rewarding them with exciting gifts and cash prices.

On the other hand, Verve Life has come to be regarded as the biggest fitness and wellness event in Lagos, promoting an overall healthy lifestyle.

Verve recently celebrated Mother’s Day by rewarding women in the state with rice and vegetable oil, demonstrating its commitment to empowering residents to live the good life.

Verve remains dedicated to leveraging partnerships to drive economic growth and improve lives in Lagos State.

The increasing knowledge around digital payments, growing mobile and internet penetration and the doggedness of the players within the payment space who have been insistent on making digital payments work in Nigeria.

Verve, as the first indigenous card brand out of Nigeria has contributed in no small measure to the success the landscape has enjoyed and the ease of payment that is now considered normal.

Emerging at a time when all the odds were stacked against it, the Verve scheme has stood its ground for over a decade, discounting the informed projections of the experts who predicted that competing against international giants like Mastercard and Visa for market share would be impossible.

Propelled by the need to deliver homegrown payment solutions that are less expensive, just as effective, and more suited to the average Nigerian, the Verve card has continued to expand its reach, portfolio, and offerings.

Today, Verve is accepted and issued across Nigeria, active in several African countries and functional in over I80 countries of the world.

Leveraging strategic partnerships, Verve has consistently offered the everyday Nigerian the access to do more. With over 44 million cards in circulation, and 50 million active tokens, there is no debating the fact that Verve is indeed Africa’s preferred payment card.

As a proudly Naija and African card scheme leading the way with innovative, affordable, and reliable payment services, Verve is already pushing the frontiers of the future, exploring emerging technologies like digital currencies and contactless payments. In keeping with the brand’s promise to connect Africa to global exchange, Verve is currently collaborating with the Central Bank of Nigeria on Nigeria’s digital currency – eNaira.

Verve has also continued to drive seamless governance by powering citizen identification across multiple states with a special brand of customised identity cards, leveraging a strong community of over 250 scheme members spread across Banks and Other Financial Institutions (OFI).  The most issued card in Nigeria, Verve is accessible in multiple expressions, Debit, Credit, Prepaid, Virtual.

Building on its massive investment of talent, innovation, and commitment; it is evident that Verve will be powering payments across Nigeria and Africa at large for decades to come. This was confirmed by the Managing Director, Verve International, Mr Vincent Ogbunude, who affirmed that Verve is already innovating for the future and putting technology in place to connect Africans to the future of payments. Verve card users are further encouraged to look forward to exciting new possibilities in the Transport and Health sectors, powered by Africa’s most successful indigenous card scheme.

While other competing card brands may continue to emerge along the line, Verve remains the tested and proven card scheme that will continue to prioritise the interest of the everyday card user in Nigeria, and Africa. Rest assured that the Verve card is, and will remain active, across all touchpoints, including ATMs, POS, online both locally and globally on platforms like Netflix, Flywire, Spotify, and Instagram, among others.

To further assure users of its commitment to Nigeria, Verve recently rewarded its users with prizes worth over 70 million Naira in the recently concluded Verve Good Life promo where over 20 millionaires emerged. Verve card holders across the country can relax as they continue to enjoy the good life on the Verve network.

It is the moment to enjoy your slice of the N70m up for grabs. The more you transact with your Verve card on POS, WEB, ATMs and when Paycodes are generated for transactions, the closer you are to being amongst the 20 customers to cruise in the millionaire geng!

Wondering if there is a chance for a weekly reward? Oh yes, we that covered for you. Verve card holders will be able to enjoy a 10% weekly cashback on transactions.

Also, 200 customers will win N20,000 each monthly. It is time to start transacting with Africa’s reliable and leading payment card for all transactions.

Gladly, the promo is open to Verve card holders of First Bank, Zenith, Access, Ecobank, FCMB, Union, Fidelity and UBA.

If you do not have a Verve card yet or it has expired, please ask your Bank for a Verve card today or reactivate your expired cards.

This promo kicked off in August 2022 and will run through till October 30, 2022. Don’t snooze on this great offer, make Verve Card your card of choice for all payment transactions.

Think payment transactions, Think Verve Card! Verve continues to reward customers for their continued patronage and the Transact and Enjoy Promo is set to benefit millions of cardholders with exciting winnings.

Don’t be left out, it’s time to enjoy the GoodLife with Verve.