OPay has built a financial services platform that moves money, extends credit, and helps millions of people save. It operates in Nigeria, Indonesia, Egypt, and Pakistan, but its business remains heavily concentrated in Nigeria, which accounts for 89.5% of its revenue.
That concentration presents a problem for a fintech seeking to become a pan-African financial services business. Expanding into new markets allows OPay to diversify its revenue, reach underserved consumers, and replicate its financial services model beyond Nigeria. But entering a new market requires more than deploying an app. It requires banking infrastructure, regulatory relationships, local partnerships, and access to payment networks.
Standard Bank, Africa’s largest bank by assets, offered a potential shortcut.
On October 9, Standard Bank Group agreed to invest approximately $185 million in OPay, with the bank’s Africa head, Lungisa Fuzile, also set to join OPay’s board of directors. The investment was conditional on the successful completion of the fintech’s planned IPO and the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals.
Beyond the investment, the parties intended to explore opportunities in African markets involving digital banking and the distribution of selected Standard Bank products and services through OPay’s consumer and merchant platform.
But on October 30, OPay withdrew its planned New York Stock Exchange listing following a reported regulatory inquiry from China.
