Banking
Airopay Launches in Nigeria, Offers 16% Interest on Savings
By Adedapo Adesanya
Airopay has delved into the digital payments business in Nigeria to ensure that cashless payments are efficient since customers get frustrated and stranded at various pay points.
As a payment infrastructure solution, Airopay allows its users, both individuals and businesses in Africa and around the world, to transact locally and internationally from the comfort of their mobile devices.
It was designed as a one-stop app to enable payments for users when at home or abroad as it provides users the ability to directly pay bills in Nigeria, make transfers and also receive cash regardless of their geographical locations at super fast speed all from a mobile phone.
Speaking on the app, Airopay Chief Executive Officer, Mr CharlesJohn Oyakhilome, shared that the whole idea of the app is to digitize payments in Africa and beyond. “The ultimate goal of the brand is to make mobile payments across borders very easy’’, he said.
The Director of Strategy and Business Growth, Mr Kelechi Mbah, stated that Airopay has many unique services to offer in the Fintech space as we are set to ensure a life made easy. While it may look like the market is saturated, there are still many gaps which Airopay has carefully designed its services to fill.
Also, the Airopay App is set to give the general public a unique experience of ease and swiftness for both international and local fund transfers with zero per cent downtime!
Furthermore, the platform will provide economic empowerment for entrepreneurs, merchants and retailers.
Mr Adedayo Johnson, the Chief Financial Officer said, “Our users will enjoy an unbeatable interest rate of 16 per cent on savings, access to loans within 24 hours and bill payment transactions, different from what the general public has experienced.”
First crafted in 2014, Airopay systems have been developed to include several layers of transaction security for a users’ peace of mind.
Furthermore, the app is designed with Azure security centers which aid with detecting and blocking cyber security threats. The framework is secure from XML external entity injection also known as XXE as attackers cannot interfere with the application’s processing.
The Airopay brand officially launched into the Nigeria market on November 24, 2020, having recently signed Richard Mofe-Damijo (RMD) as the brand ambassador. The launch generated awareness and rightly positioned the Airopay app as a platform known for speed, ease, convenience and trust.
Users will be able to easily fund, withdraw, save, transfer money and pay for goods and services (locally or internationally) with their mobile devices.
Airopay Mobile Money accommodates deposits and withdrawals, including cardless ATM withdrawals, transfer between accounts, domestic remittances, third party or non-registered user deposits to accounts, payment of utility bills (including water, electricity, PayTV ), purchase of flight tickets for local and international flights, international and local airtime top up, payment of tuition for 100+ educational institutions, international and local fund transfers, bill payments for betting, lottery and games at zero per cent downtime.
Other services offered include termination of international remittances to wallet, QR code supported retail and merchant payments and registration of any payment card on the end-user application for recharge and QR code supported retail payment systems.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Sewa Capital Investment, an investment banking and financial advisory firm focused on supporting high-growth businesses across Africa, has made a strategic investment in Mathesis Analytics, a Nigerian financial technology company providing Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered credit decisioning infrastructure.
The investment is expected to support Mathesis Analytics’ expansion drive for its AI-powered credit infrastructure in Nigeria.
Currently, Nigerian lenders face a critical structural gap: the fragmentation of verifiable consumer data makes it difficult to accurately price risk at scale. Mathesis directly addresses this bottleneck by aggregating disparate transactional and behavioural data into a real-time measure of creditworthiness.
The investment will support product development, institutional integrations, expansion of Mathesis’ lender network, and the strengthening of its data and technology infrastructure, a statement from the fintech firm stated.
By embedding this infrastructure, financial institutions can expand underwriting capacity, support more accurate risk-based lending decisions, and reach new market segments without compromising established risk thresholds.
For Mathesis Analytics, this investment represents an important milestone in its strategy to build Africa’s next-generation credit infrastructure to drive true financial inclusion.
Mathesis has already supported more than 8 million loans for over 2 million unique borrowers in Nigeria, providing a substantial operating base from which to deepen institutional adoption and expand into additional markets.
The company will leverage Sewa Capital’s backing to accelerate the expansion of its institutional footprint.
“At Sewa Capital, we are interested in businesses building the infrastructure that enables African economies to allocate capital more efficiently and inclusively.
“Mathesis Analytics is addressing a fundamental constraint in credit markets: the information gap that limits lenders’ ability to assess risk confidently.
“Its technology has the potential to expand responsible access to credit in Nigeria and, over time, across Africa. We are pleased to support the team through its next phase of growth,” the Managing Director of Sewa Capital, Ms Angela Jide-Jones, commented.
The chief executive of Mathesis Analytics, Mr Winston Osuchukwu, in his reaction, said, “Credit inclusion begins with information visibility.
“Partnering with Sewa Capital accelerates the rollout of our infrastructure; equipping a wider network of lenders with the capabilities required to accurately evaluate risk and ultimately deliver credit services to previously excluded populations across the continent.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Eligible innovators, financial institutions, Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), financial technology (fintech) companies, and technology firms have been invited to apply for the second cohort of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Regulatory Sandbox Programme.
A statement signed by the acting Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations Department of the apex bank, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali, disclosed that entries opened on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, and will close on Monday, August 31, 2026.
Cohort 2 of the initiative introduces two dedicated testing tracks to support emerging technologies with the potential to strengthen Nigeria’s financial system while upholding high standards of consumer protection, financial stability, and market integrity.
According to the central bank, the two tracks are VASP and Data-Enabled Financial Services (Non-VASP).
VASP track is to support innovative virtual asset, stablecoin, payment, settlement, custody, wallet, and related financial infrastructure solutions that require supervised live testing, while the non-VASP track supports innovations that leverage secure digital infrastructure and permission-based data sharing to improve financial inclusion, payments, credit, risk management, operational efficiency, and consumer outcomes.
The CBN Regulatory Sandbox provides a controlled environment in which eligible participants may test innovative financial products, services, business models, and enabling technologies under the supervision of the CBN.
The programme enables the CBN and innovators to engage constructively throughout the testing process, supporting regulatory learning while encouraging responsible innovation that benefits consumers and the wider financial system.
Eligible organisations whose proposed innovations fall within the programme’s scope are encouraged to apply.
Applications will be assessed based on the level of innovation, readiness for controlled live testing, potential consumer or market benefit, governance arrangements, risk management capability, and the suitability of the proposed testing plan.
Successful participants will undertake supervised testing within clearly defined parameters agreed with the CBN, including appropriate safeguards for consumer protection, operational resilience, cybersecurity, and regulatory reporting.
The central bank emphasised that participation in the scheme does not constitute a licence, authorisation, or approval to operate outside the approved testing parameters.
It noted that the Sandbox is intended to facilitate responsible experimentation, strengthen regulatory engagement, and support evidence-based policy development in line with the CBN’s statutory mandate.
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.
