Flutterwave CEO on why African fintechs want to become banks.
In April, Flutterwave , a pan-African fintech unicorn, secured a national microfinance banking licence through its acquisition of open banking startup Mono.
It joined a growing group of Nigerian fintechs moving into regulated banking.
In January, Paystack acquired Ladder Microfinance Bank, while Moniepoint secured a microfinance banking licence in 2025.
African fintechs are moving from only processing payments to holding deposits, providing credit and offering other banking services. For Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, cofounder and CEO of Flutterwave, African fintechs are becoming banks because payments alone are no longer enough. Speaking at Moonshot in Lagos on Wednesday, Agboola said Flutterwave’s decision to obtain a national microfinance banking licence was driven by the need to control more of the infrastructure behind its payments business. “What we’ve seen is you cannot provide a great payment experience if you don’t control the entire stack, or at least a big piece of the stack,” Agboola said.
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