Flutterwave gets a national microfinance banking licence as CBN redraws fintech boundaries

The Central Bank of Nigeria granted Flutterwave a national microfinance banking licence in early April 2026, clearing one of Africa's largest payments processors to take deposits, lend and run accounts, with its SendApp remittance product (over one million users) as the consumer foundation. The licence is one data point in a deliberate CBN consolidation: Paystack acquired Ladder Microfinance Bank in January 2026, and OPay and Moniepoint were upgraded to national banking licences before that. The regulator's message is that payments-only licences no longer cover businesses that hold customer funds, a point it made expensively in April 2025 with a NGN 250 million fine against Paystack's Zap wallet. There is a data protection angle too. Full banking licences carry stricter KYC and customer data obligations, so every fintech crossing this line inherits a heavier compliance load than the payments regime it left.