"Who Wins?": Stanbic IBTC, Wema, GTB, Others Lead Battle Against Opay, Kuda Bank With Fintech Subsidiaries
- The financial services industry is witnessing a boom among big banks in Nigeria
- Stanbic IBTC, Wema Bank, and GTBank are among the top banks playing in the fintech space recently
- The move aims at battling big players like OPay, Flutterwave, PalmPay, and others
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A rising number of Nigeria’s big banks are entering the financial technology space, thereby tightening the fintech space for entrenched players in the industry.
In 2017, when fintech firms became threats and primary disruptors in the financial services ecosystem, it was thought they would battle the big banks to the ground.
Source: Getty Images
But the big banks are pulling their weight and taking the fight to the fintech firms.
With financial firepower, the top banks in Nigeria take charge of their futures via strategic and intelligent investments in financial technology businesses.
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Big Nigerian banks to battle OPay, others
According to financial pundits, the entrance of the banks threatens the valuation of the top fintech firms.
Flutterwave, Interswitch, and Opay have over $1 billion valuations, making them the top unicorn companies in Africa.
Others like Opay, Moniepoint, which recently began retail banking, and Paga also entrenched their footsteps in the financial services industry.
With the declining fortunes of fintech companies in terms of funding, the big banks are taking advantage and beginning financial services operations.
Stanbic, Access Bank, GTB, others develop smart online banks
In May 2023, Stanbic IBTC Holdings launched its now-renamed fintech platform as a payment solutions provider, focusing on tech solutions to boost its existing financial services.
The bank follows in the steps of other top commercial banks like Wema Bank, Guarantee Trust Holding Company, and Access Holdings, all of which are aggressively pushing into the fintech ecosystem.
Wema, with its ALAT, GTBank with HabariPay, and Access Bank with Hydrogen Pay, respectively, seek to upstage the big players in the fintech system.
The top banks are beginning to see results from their spending on fintech.
In GTCO’s financial report, its fintech firm, Squad, which began operations in June 2022, crossed N200 billion in monthly transactions.
Despite tough competition, the platform, with about 46 employees, reportedly became profitable in its first month of operations.
Squad’s financials reveal that it recorded a profit before tax of N926 million in the first six months of its operations, while its revenue for the period stood at N1.52 billion.
GTBank Squad becomes instant success in first month
Between June and December last year, Guarantee Holding Company revealed that its fintech arm generated about N139.3 billion via its gateway switching system, as international payment transactions in the same period stood at $175.927 million.
Wema Bank revealed that it recorded a boom as ALAT gained traction. The bank’s financial report recorded a 131% increase in customers onboarded in 2022.
According to BusinessDay, the success of banks’ fintech boom is due to their retail banking strategies.
While GTBank’s Squad may not compete with Opay, PalmPay, Moniepoint, and others regarding speed, the bank’s fintech is bringing the fight to the companies.
The ecosystem is becoming swarmed with big and upcoming players seeking to upstage each other in the system.
"CBN Approves": Stanbic IBTC Bank announces name change for subsidiary to challenge OPay, Kuda, Others
Legit.ng reported that Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, the parent company of Stanbic IBTC Bank, has changed the name of its fintech subsidiary.
The subsidiary, formerly known as Stanbic IBTC Financial Services Limited, is now called ZEST Payments Limited (ZEST).
ZEST will now challenge other fintech, such as OPay, Kuda, and Moniepoint, for market share.
The rebranding was disclosed in a press release signed by the Company's Secretary, Chidi Okezie, and published on the Nigeria Exchange.
Source: Legit.ng
