Kuda Microfinance Financial institution plans to open extra expertise centres for buyer help and group engagement after it acquired a licence from the Central Financial institution of Nigeria (CBN) to function as a Nationwide Microfinance Financial institution, an improve that comes with an expectation of nationwide bodily presence.
The transfer lifts the geographic restrictions that got here with Kuda’s former unit microfinance financial institution licence, which, regardless of the borderless nature of its digital banking, restricted its bodily operations to a particular location. With a nationwide licence, Kuda should broaden its bodily footprint, giving clients extra choices for in-person help whereas retaining digital banking as its core.
“Securing a nationwide microfinance banking licence is a vital step for us as a regulated establishment,” stated Musty Mustapha, MD/CEO of Kuda MFB, in a press release.
Kuda’s new licence displays a broader effort by the CBN to align licencing buildings with the actual operational footprints of fast-growing fintechs. However the shift additionally pulls fintechs nearer to the price construction of conventional establishments: branches, workers, and heavier compliance, testing the low-overhead benefit that made digital banking cheaper and extra agile.
On January 26, 2025, native media reported that the CBN had upgraded the MFB licences of main gamers, together with Moniepoint and Opay, to a nationwide one.
The apex financial institution stated it upgraded these fintechs’ licences to match the dimensions of their operations, and to make sure their largely informal-sector clients can stroll into places of work nationwide to resolve complaints. In 2023, Moniepoint, with greater than two million enterprise accounts, averaged 433 million month-to-month transactions, with an annual transaction worth of over $150 billion. In Q1 2025, OPay, with over 10 million every day energetic customers, alongside PalmPa,y helped push Nigeria’s cellular cash transactions to ₦20.71 trillion ($14.79 billion).
Whereas the CBN’s licencing tips don’t explicitly define a direct path for unit MFBs to change into nationwide MFBs, they do for state MFBs. State MFBs searching for to improve to nationwide standing are anticipated to function at the least 5 branches, solidifying Kuda’s intention to roll out a number of places of work within the coming months.
Past bodily enlargement, the licence additionally places Kuda underneath stricter regulatory and disclosure necessities. Nationwide MFBs, as an illustration, should publish their annual accounts in a nationwide every day newspaper for accountability.
The improve additionally considerably will increase Kuda’s capital requirement. The anticipated minimal paid-up capital rises from ₦200 million ($142,808) as a tier-one unit MFB to ₦5 billion ($3.57 million) as a nationwide MFB. In 2024, the corporate raised $20 million at a $500 million valuation.
Kuda stated it is going to proceed to steer with digital banking providers, together with transfers, funds, financial savings, and prompt credit score, whereas increasing bodily touchpoints the place wanted.
“Whereas we stay digital at our core, this licence provides us the flexibleness to create extra bodily touchpoints the place clients need in-person help or engagement, permitting us to serve Nigerians throughout the nation in whichever methods are most handy for them,” Mustapha stated.
In Q1 2025, Kuda processed over 300 million transactions totalling ₦14.3 trillion ($10.21 billion) throughout its retail and enterprise banking arms. The fintech additionally issued ₦16.4 billion ($11.71 million) in overdrafts in Q1 2025 (a 43% progress in comparison with the earlier quarter).
Kuda added that its bodily expansions are topic to regulatory approval. Opening a department with out the CBN’s approval comes with a ₦2 million ($1,428) superb from the CBN.
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