As banks pull back, Moniepoint’s N1trn loans fill Nigeria’s SME credit gap

As Nigeria’s commercial banks tighten lending amid rising risk, regulatory pressure, and persistently high interest rates, fintech lender Moniepoint said it has disbursed more than N1 trillion in credit to small businesses in 2025, underscoring how technology-driven platforms are increasingly filling a widening financing gap in the country’s informal economy.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for the bulk of employment in Nigeria, have long struggled to access bank credit due to collateral requirements, weak credit histories, and volatile macroeconomic conditions.

In 2025, traditional banks’ lending to the private sector showed constrained growth overall, with credit levels fluctuating and ending the year at N75.8 trillion in December, down from N78.02 trillion at the end of 2024 and reflecting pullbacks earlier in the year amid risk repricing, elevated defaults, and cautious underwriting.

SMEs, in particular, received only a marginal share of this credit, as banks skewed approvals toward secured corporate facilities while reducing unsecured lending to smaller firms.

Moniepoint, in a statement, made available to BusinessDay, said its microfinance banking unit extended loans to thousands of businesses ranging from provision stores and supermarkets to building materials traders, using transaction data and payment behaviour rather than traditional credit scores.

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The company said businesses that accessed its credit recorded average growth of more than 36 percenr highlighting the role of alternative lending models at a time when bank lending to smaller firms has remained constrained.

Founded in 2015, Moniepoint has grown from a backend payments processor into one of Nigeria’s largest financial platforms for small businesses, serving more than 6 million active enterprises with services including digital payments, banking, credit, foreign exchange and business management tools.

The firm’s scale in payments has become a key enabler of its lending push. Moniepoint said its banking and payments subsidiary processed N412 trillion in transaction value in 2025, handling more than 14 billion transactions and powering about 80 percent of in-person payments nationwide.

That data footprint allows the company to assess risk in segments that commercial banks often avoid.“Our mission has been to solve problems that traditional systems overlook,” said Tosin Eniolorunda, Moniepoint’s founder and chief executive, pointing to Africa’s largely informal labour market as a structural challenge for conventional finance.

Moniepoint’s expanding role comes as Nigeria seeks to boost credit penetration and support economic growth in a country where access to finance remains limited for smaller firms.

Fintech lenders are increasingly acting as quasi-infrastructure, combining payments, savings and credit into a single ecosystem, especially as traditional banks maintain tighter risk controls and prioritize lower-risk segments.

In 2025, Moniepoint raised more than $200 million in a Series C funding round backed by investors including Development Partners International, Google’s Africa Investment Fund, Visa, the International Finance Corporation and Verod Capital, strengthening its balance sheet as it scaled lending.

The company also secured a national microfinance banking licence, re-launched its savings product and rolled out new tools such as Moniebook, deepening its regulated presence and product offerings. It expanded internationally with the launch of MonieWorld in the United Kingdom, targeting remittances and cross-border financial services for the African diaspora.

Beyond lending, Moniepoint said its switching and processing subsidiary, TeamApt Ltd, obtained licences from Mastercard and Visa to operate as a processor and acquirer, while its web payments gateway, Monnify, processed N25 trillion in transactions during the year.

As banks remain cautious, Moniepoint said it sees sustained demand from small businesses seeking working capital, positioning fintech lenders as central players in Nigeria’s effort to broaden credit access and support growth in the informal economy.

Royal Ibeh is a senior journalist with years of experience reporting on Nigeria’s technology and health sectors. She currently covers the Technology and Health beats for BusinessDay newspaper, where she writes in-depth stories on digital innovation, telecom infrastructure, healthcare systems, and public health policies.

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