Africa’s fintech powerhouse Flutterwave eyes aggressive loan growth to rival leading banks

Africa’s fintech powerhouse Flutterwave is preparing for a significant expansion into lending after securing a national microfinance banking licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria, marking a major shift in its business model and positioning within the continent’s financial ecosystem.

• Flutterwave has secured a microfinance banking licence, enabling it to offer deposits, accounts, and direct lending.
• The fintech plans an aggressive expansion of SME credit using its own balance sheet.
• Its acquisition of Mono strengthens its onboarding and credit-scoring capabilities.
• The move positions Flutterwave to process higher-value transactions and deepen its footprint across Africa.

The newly granted licence allows the company to issue account and card numbers, accept deposits, and lend directly to customers, functions it previously carried out through partnerships with traditional banks. The move aligns with a broader global trend of fintech firms transitioning into fully licensed financial institutions.

Chief executive and co-founder Olugbenga Agboola said the development would unlock the company’s ability to scale its credit offerings, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. He noted that while its lending arm had proven viable, growth had been constrained by reliance on partner banks for underwriting.

With the new licence in place, Flutterwave now intends to expand lending “aggressively” using its own balance sheet, a shift expected to accelerate access to credit for underserved businesses across Nigeria.

The company’s lending push is further supported by its recent acquisition of Nigerian open banking firm Mono, which enhances identity verification and provides deeper access to financial data. This, according to Agboola, will strengthen customer onboarding and improve credit scoring capabilities.

Beyond lending, the licence is expected to boost Flutterwave’s transaction settlement capacity, enabling it to process higher-value payments more efficiently without depending on sponsor banks. Agboola indicated that previous transaction limits had constrained growth, particularly for large-scale payments.

Flutterwave’s move mirrors similar strategies adopted by global fintech players such as Klarna, Revolut, SoFi, and Paytm, all of which have sought regulatory licences to deepen their financial service offerings.

Looking ahead, the company signalled interest in obtaining additional licences across key African markets, including South Africa, Egypt, Kenya and Ghana, although it declined to disclose the status of any applications. It also left open the possibility of pursuing a full commercial banking licence in Nigeria.

Since its founding a decade ago, Flutterwave has processed nearly 900 million transactions valued at over $34 billion, cementing its status as one of Africa’s leading tech unicorns.

Despite a decline from its 2022 valuation of $5 billion, driven in part by Nigeria’s economic headwinds, the firm continues to attract attention over potential listing plans, with Agboola reaffirming Nigeria as its preferred debut market.