By 
By Osasome C.O
CBN Releases Fintech Report on Nigeria’s Digital Finance Future
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released its inaugural CBN Fintech Report: Shaping the Future of Fintech in Nigeria – Innovation, Inclusion and Integrity, offering the most comprehensive assessment yet of the country’s fintech ecosystem and a strategic roadmap for its next phase of growth.
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In a candid acknowledgment, the apex bank admitted that regulatory friction, high compliance costs, and slow approval timelines are constraining innovation in Nigeria’s rapidly expanding fintech sector. The report outlines policy reforms aimed at reducing bottlenecks while safeguarding financial stability, consumer protection, and system integrity.
Regulatory Friction Slowing Innovation, CBN Admits
According to the report, while Nigeria has built one of Africa’s most advanced fintech ecosystems, regulatory processes have not evolved quickly enough to match the pace, scale, and complexity of innovation now embedded in the financial system.
Findings from a nationwide fintech survey reveal that:
- 87.5 per cent of fintech operators say compliance costs significantly limit innovation
- Over 60 per cent report that regulatory timelines delay product launches
- More than one-third say it takes over a year to bring new products to market, largely due to licensing and approval bottlenecks
These challenges, the CBN noted, risk slowing Nigeria’s momentum at a time when fintech is becoming systemically important to the economy.
Fintech as a Strategic Pillar of Financial Inclusion and Growth
The report reinforces the CBN’s position that fintech is not a threat to the financial system, but a complementary pillar supporting financial inclusion, efficiency, and long-term economic growth, alongside traditional banking.
It stresses that fintech has become central to expanding access to digital financial services, particularly for underserved and unbanked populations, and now plays a critical role in Nigeria’s economic transformation.
Nigeria Emerges as Global Leader in Real-Time Payments
Placing Nigeria’s fintech journey in a global context, the report highlights the country’s leadership in real-time payments infrastructure. Data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) shows that nearly 11 billion transactions were processed through the NIBSS Instant Payments (NIP) platform in 2024, up from five billion in 2022.
This positions Nigeria among the world’s leading adopters of real-time payments and firmly at the forefront in Africa, further underscoring the systemic importance of fintech to the national economy.
Mixed Perceptions of the Regulatory Environment
Despite its strengths, the report found that fintech operators are evenly split in their perception of Nigeria’s regulatory environment. While half describe it as enabling, the other half view it as restrictive.
The CBN linked this divide to unclear regulatory guidance, fragmented oversight, and inconsistent application of rules across agencies, factors that increase uncertainty and compliance costs for innovators.
CBN’s Reform Roadmap: Streamlining Regulation and Engagement
To address these gaps, the CBN outlined a reform roadmap focused on reducing friction for compliant operators while strengthening oversight. Key proposals include:
- Establishing a standing CBN–Fintech Engagement Platform
- Operationalising a Single Regulatory Window to harmonise multi-agency approvals
- Deploying supervisory technology (SupTech) to shorten approval timelines and improve regulatory efficiency
The report also proposes shared compliance utilities, including a compliance-as-a-service model, to ease regulatory burdens on smaller fintech firms while enhancing supervisory visibility.
Open Banking, Digital Identity and Infrastructure Expansion
In parallel, the CBN signalled plans to accelerate open banking implementation, improve access to affordable digital identity infrastructure, and strengthen interoperability across payment and credit systems.
These measures are expected to support innovation, reduce duplication, and expand access to shared infrastructure critical for scaling digital financial services.
Cross-Border Expansion and Regulatory Passporting
Cross-border growth emerged as another pressure point, with over 60 per cent of surveyed fintechs planning regional expansion. The CBN acknowledged that fragmented regulatory frameworks across Africa increase costs and complexity for scaling firms.
As a response, the report proposes piloting regulatory passporting arrangements with peer African regulators, enabling mutual recognition of licences and smoother regional expansion.
CBN: Innovation and Regulation Must Advance Together
Reacting to the report, the CBN described it as a candid assessment of Nigeria’s fintech landscape and a practical guide for reform. The apex bank said the publication forms part of an ongoing policy insight series aimed at providing clearer regulatory direction and supporting coordinated execution across the financial sector.
While reaffirming its commitment to financial integrity and consumer protection, the CBN stressed that innovation and regulation must evolve together.
The report identifies Nigeria’s primary challenge as a shift from ideation and adoption to effective implementation. The nation must now focus on accelerating execution, establishing unambiguous regulations, and fostering greater trust between regulators and innovators to solidify its standing within the regional and global fintech ecosystem.
