Moniepoint Microfinance Bank, one of the leading fintech companies in Nigeria, revealed payment infrastructure alone no longer provides an edge for competing in the industry’s agency banking.
The market leader now adds quality of service, intensifying competition, and giving the last-mile users a choice among over 400 competitors in the industry.
Moniepoint’s Ezekiel Sanni, senior vice president, distribution network sales, agreed that agency banking has grown in reach.
As of March, Opay led with 563,000 field agents; Moniepoint followed with over 400,000. These and other fintech’s agents add up to about two million in the 774 local government areas across Nigeria.
That is besides over eight million PoS terminals in Nigeria. Out of about six million active operators, Moniepoint has on-boarded over four million.
That makes it Nigeria’s largest merchant acquirer, powering 8 out of every 10 in-person payments across the country.
“But the next phase of growth will be defined by quality of service and depth of engagement,” Ezekiel said recently.
According to him, Moniepoint’s model prioritises not just access, but meaningful, routine local support for the merchants and communities it serves.
“Our engineering is a commitment to the stability that these businesses need to thrive.”
Combining scale and human connection this way has its pay off for Moniepoint’s clients: faster issue resolution and supports; merchants receive ongoing business guidance, real-time operational support, and on-the-job training, particularly in critical areas such as fraud detection and anti-money laundering (AML) regulatory compliance.
In many cases the agents appreciate the human quality, making them choose a long-term partner they trust.
“That is the trust we have deliberately built, that continues to differentiate us even as we work hard to contribute meaningfully to the broader growth and development of the financial ecosystem,” Ezekiel said.
Industry watchers say it’s all about offering customers a choice. And Fintech has made this easier. About 74 percent of adults in Nigeria had formal accounts in 2023, from 68 percent in 2020. The goal the Central Bank of Nigeria set is 95 percent financial inclusion.
