Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company, is expanding beyond payment processing into banking and lending to gain greater control over the financial infrastructure its customers depend on, according to its CEO, Olugbenga “GB” Agboola.
Speaking at Moonshot by TechCabal in Lagos on Wednesday, October 28, Agboola said the Nigerian fintech wants to build a broader financial services platform that enables businesses and consumers to move, store, invest and borrow money through connected services.
The move follows Flutterwave’s acquisition of open-banking startup Mono in January and its acquisition of a national microfinance banking licence in April, providing a regulatory pathway to accept deposits and lend within the limits of its licence.
“If you can trust us with your payment, it’s a much easier sell to actually keep the money for you,” Agboola said.
The strategy reflects Flutterwave’s ambition to deepen its relationships with customers while reducing its reliance on third-party financial institutions for critical parts of its operations.
Why Flutterwave wants to become a bank
Flutterwave’s ambition to move beyond payments comes against the backdrop of the scale of its existing business.
Founded in 2016, the company has built payment infrastructure that connects businesses to customers across Africa and international markets. Its platform supports payments in more than 30 currencies and offers over 15 payment options, including debit and credit cards, bank accounts, mobile money, point-of-sale payments, M-Pesa, Visa QR, bank transfers and USSD.
The company says its infrastructure handles more than 20 million API calls daily, peaking at 231 requests per second, and processes an average of more than 500,000 payments each day.
By June 2026, Flutterwave had processed more than one billion transactions worth over $50 billion cumulatively. Its valuation reached $3.2 billion following a Series E investment involving Ripple Ventures. In July, it secured an undisclosed investment from Circle Ventures to accelerate its adoption of USDC as a settlement option for businesses across Africa.
The scale of that business provides the foundation for its next phase. Rather than simply facilitating payments between customers and businesses, Flutterwave wants to provide more of the financial services those customers need before, during and after a transaction.
Agboola said one of the problems the company wants to address is its dependence on partner banks. Although partnerships remain important to its operations, disruptions or scheduled maintenance at a partner institution can affect the services that rely on it.
For a business processing payments across different markets, such interruptions can affect customers’ ability to receive funds, complete transactions and manage their operations.
“You cannot provide an accurate payment experience if you don’t control the entire stack, or at least a big piece of the stack,” he said.
The banking licence gives Flutterwave greater control over some of these functions, allowing it to provide deposit-taking and lending services within its authorised scope while continuing to work with partner banks.
Other fintechs and founders share the same sentiment
Flutterwave is not alone in seeking greater control over the financial services its customers use. Other fintech companies and technology businesses are also moving towards banking, credit and related services as they seek to expand their revenue streams and reduce their dependence on external institutions.
Moniepoint provides one example of how a company can evolve from supplying financial infrastructure to operating a regulated banking business.
The company began by providing banking software and financial technology infrastructure, including payment processing, settlement and reconciliation solutions for commercial banks in Nigeria. It subsequently expanded into banking through Moniepoint Microfinance Bank, which received its microfinance banking licence in February 2022.
In January 2026, the Central Bank of Nigeria upgraded Moniepoint Microfinance Bank’s operating licence to national status, formally recognising its nationwide operations. The upgrade allows it to operate across Nigeria under the national microfinance banking framework.
Telecommunications companies are exploring a similar path. MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecommunications company, is considering banking licences in selected markets as it seeks to expand its fintech business and eventually lend directly to customers from its own balance sheet.
TechMedia Africa recently reported on the strategy, which would allow the group to move beyond its existing partnerships as it explores new sources of growth in financial services.
“The big growth now, which will be the growth of the future, is actually lending,” Ralph Mupita, MTN Group’s CEO, said in August.
For MTN, lending represents an opportunity to build on its existing mobile money operations and customer relationships. For Flutterwave, it could become an additional service for businesses already using its payment infrastructure.
Babatunde Akin-Moses, founder of digital lender Sycamore, has also argued that fintech companies eventually have to consider how much of their financial value chain they need to control as they grow.
“I have always maintained that you either die a specialised fintech, or live long enough to see yourself become a bank or a group holding company,” he said in an interview with Nairametrics in August.
Akin-Moses explained that specialising in one service can be a successful business strategy. However, as a fintech expands, it must assess whether depending on external institutions for essential services remains sustainable.
Partnering with commercial banks, for instance, can be necessary for settlement. But the arrangement can also leave fintech companies exposed to the banks’ pricing, systems, risk appetite, regulatory decisions and strategic priorities.
“That is why we are seeing some fintechs evolve into banks or financial holding companies. It is not necessarily about wanting to become a bank for the sake of becoming a bank. It is about asking, ‘What do we need to own to serve our customers better and build a more sustainable business?’” he said.
