Banking
PalmPay Users in Nigeria Reach 10 million
By Adedapo Adesanya
PalmPay, a digital payment company, announced that it has reached 10 million users in Nigeria, about 100 per cent higher than its base in just six months and puts its customer numbers in the same league as major institutions only after the company launched in the market in 2019.
The fintech, which operates under a Mobile Money Operator (MMO) license from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has gained significant traction with its payment app and nationwide agency banking network.
Its proposition of instant financial account creation, fee-free bank transfers, and cashback rewards on airtime and bill payments have appealed to millennial and Gen-Z consumers, who are looking for more affordable banking options and prefer the convenience of a digital-first service.
PalmPay, in a statement, said it is processing millions of transactions a day with around 20 per cent of the company’s customer base reporting that the PalmPay app was their first financial account.
Analysts noted that this is demonstrating that the mobile money operator is contributing to driving progress toward financial inclusion targets in Nigeria, where 36 per cent of the population remains unbanked.
Speaking on this development, Mr Chika Nwosu, Managing Director, PalmPay Nigeria, said, “We are delighted to be able to celebrate this growth milestone and are proud of PalmPay’s track record of making cutting-edge financial services accessible to every Nigerian – including the unbanked.”
“The pandemic has accelerated the shift from cash to digital payments and we are looking forward to continuing to work together with regulators and our partners to innovate to meet the financial needs of consumers.”
On her part, Ms Sofia Zab, PalmPay Global CMO said – “Our significant growth in Nigeria demonstrates PalmPay’s ability to innovate to meet the financial needs of consumers, and we are looking forward to replicating this success as we scale in more markets across Africa.”
PalmPay raised a $100 million Series A round of funding in August 2021 and this brought the total funding to $140 million raised in total. The company is now operating in Nigeria and Tanzania and will be scaling its proposition in other African markets in 2022.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The international spending limit on the GTBank Naira card has been increased by the financial institution to $40,000.
This information was revealed by the lender in an email to customers on Tuesday, August 11, 2026.
The banking subsidiary of GTCO Plc disclosed that the new offshore spending limit is for a quarter.
This development comes as the Nigerian foreign exchange (FX) market is witnessing stability against the United States Dollar.
The forex volatility experienced a few years ago has eased, allowing companies and others to plan within a reasonable exchange rate band.
“The Dollar limit on your GTBank Naira Card is now $40,000 quarterly,” the tier-1 commercial bank said in the message sighted by Business Post.
Improvement in forex liquidity in the domestic FX ecosystem has allowed Nigerians to use their local cards to complete financial transactions on foreign platforms, which was not possible a few years ago because of Dollar scarcity and arbitrage.
At the official market on Tuesday, the exchange rate closed at N1,364/$1. It was exchanged at N1,367/$1 at the GTBank FX desk and N1,395/$1 at the parallel market.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) is investigating the University of Lagos, Lotus Bank, and Hackerbella Limited over alleged violations of data protection laws.
The probe followed public complaints alleging that students’ personal data was used to open bank accounts without a lawful basis.
The NDPC disclosed this in a statement signed by its Head of Legal, Enforcement and Regulations, Mr Babatunde Bamigboye, on behalf of the commission.
According to the commission, its chief executive, Mr Vincent Olatunji, directed the investigation team to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the circumstances surrounding the collection, use and disclosure of the affected students’ personal data.
The investigation will also determine the roles and responsibilities of the university, the bank, and the information technology solutions firm in the alleged data processing activities.
The NDPC said the probe would assess the compliance obligations of the three organisations under the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023, as well as the potential risks posed to the rights and freedoms of the affected students.
The commission said the investigation would cover several areas, including Data Protection Impact Assessments, the lawfulness and transparency of credit scoring or profiling activities, automated decision-making systems, privacy notices and data-sharing arrangements.
It will also examine the lawful bases for processing the students’ information, data minimisation, purpose limitation, retention policies and the adequacy of technical and organisational safeguards for protecting data subjects’ rights.
The commission stressed that institutions handling the personal information of students, staff and other members of their communities have a greater responsibility to ensure such data is properly protected.
“Institutions entrusted with the personal data of students, staff and other members of their communities have a heightened responsibility to ensure that such data is processed lawfully, fairly, transparently and securely,” the NDPC said.
The commission also warned educational institutions that have yet to comply with its existing data protection directives to take immediate steps to meet the required standards.
“Accordingly, the NDPC warns educational institutions that are yet to comply with its existing data protection compliance directives to do so immediately,” the statement added.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
In 2025, Access Holdings Plc lowered its operational emissions by 28.47 per cent by growing its green asset portfolio to N92.15 billion, though still far from its N475 billion target.
Details of its 2025 Sustainability Report showed that operational emissions fell to 49,352 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from 57,176 tonnes in 2024, supported primarily by branch solarisation across 263 locations and the deployment of 323 solar-powered ATMs, largely across Access Bank in Nigeria.
The organisation applies the operational-control approach under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, accounting for emissions across its African footprint, with Access Bank representing the largest share.
The report reinforces its strategic shift from scale to value by showing how sustainability is being embedded in capital allocation, risk management, product development and operations.
During the year, Access Holdings deployed N72.3 billion under its Sustainable Finance Framework to eligible environmentally beneficial projects and grew its cumulative sustainability-focused loan book to $1.269 billion.
Beyond environmental outcomes, the report highlights the group’s contribution to inclusive economic participation.
In 2025, Access Holdings extended access to finance to 2,528,117 low-income individuals and onboarded 78,438 new MSMEs onto its financing platform.
Across the institution, 2.8 billion transactions were processed during the year, underscoring its role as core financial infrastructure for Africa’s real
economy. Gender-lens lending also progressed, with 354,156 loans extended to women and women-owned businesses, totalling N67.4 billion, equivalent to 24 per cent of the relevant loan portfolio.
Its Corporate Social Investment programmes reached 2,439,480 beneficiaries across education, health, entrepreneurship and the environment, delivered with partners, including UNICEF, HACEY Health Initiative and the Kenya Forest Service.
Employees recorded 359,500 volunteer hours with 100 per cent participation, while more than 50,000 trees were planted. The group notes that 2025 community figures follow a board-mandated tightening of its impact-measurement methodology and are not directly comparable with prior years. Women represent 49 per cent of the workforce, and the Access Holdings board comprised nine directors with 44.4 per cent female representation. Employee satisfaction rose to 87 per cent against an 80 per cent target, while attrition eased from about 13 per cent to about 11 per cent.
For the second straight year, Access Holdings reported zero material regulatory penalties relating to sustainability and zero cybersecurity breaches.
It mobilised $185.38 million, equivalent to N266.83 billion, in concessional funding from development finance institutions during the year and allocated a sustainability budget of N4.8 billion from profit before tax.
Sales-facing staff in the banking subsidiary carry green-portfolio targets within their individual performance measures, linking strategic sustainability goals to day-to-day execution across governance, strategy, risk management, capital allocation, products and operations.
To strengthen credibility and comparability, the report was prepared using the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, specifically IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, as the primary framework, with the GRI Standards (2021) and the SASB Standards applied as complementary references.
“Our 2025 Sustainability Report reflects the discipline with which we are converting scale into value. We reduced operational emissions by 28.47 per cent,
grew our green asset portfolio to N92.14 billion and extended financial access to about 2.5 million low-income individuals.
“These outcomes show that sustainability is not separate from our business; it is central to how we create value, manage risk and support inclusive growth across Africa,” the chief executive of Access Holdings, Mr Innocent Ike, stated.
Looking ahead, the company promised to deepen the measurable impact of its sustainability agenda, accelerate the transition of its portfolio towards low-carbon and climate-resilient assets, and grow the green asset portfolio towards the N475 billion target.
