The Central Bank of Nigeria CBN has released its 2025 Fintech Report, presenting a strategic roadmap to elevate Nigeria from a continental fintech leader to a global rule-setter. Nigeria's fintech ecosystem, already recognized for its early adoption of real-time payments and dynamic innovation, is now positioned to enter a phase focused on regulatory modernization, financial inclusion, and strengthened system integrity.
A major emphasis of the report is the modernization of regulations to address industry challenges such as high compliance costs and lengthy product approval timelines. Survey findings show that 87.5 of fintech firms report regulatory compliance as a significant barrier to innovation. To tackle this, the CBN proposes initiatives including the establishment of a permanent CBN-Fintech Engagement Forum, the creation of a Single Regulatory Window to streamline licensing, and the deployment of supervisory technology SupTech to simplify oversight and reduce friction.
The report also highlights fintech's pivotal role in expanding financial access, with 26 of Nigerian adults still unbanked as of 2023. Key priorities include improving affordability and reliability of digital identity verification through API access to the National Identification Number NIN, enhancing infrastructure resilience, and reviewing lending restrictions on Payment Service Banks PSBs. The CBN further stresses that innovation must be balanced with integrity, leveraging AI for fraud detection and exploring regional regulatory passporting to support fintech expansion across Africa, following milestones such as Nigeria's exit from the FATF "grey list."
