The Amazon of Africa?

We reported last month analysis from WorldPay, which noted that Nigeria had seen one of the greatest drops in case usage as local adopted digital payments.

Several of its major banks have launched payment subsidiaries to compete with the fintech players that seized the digital initiative.

"Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Plc and Access Holdings Plc, which have turned their fintech subsidiaries into major engines of growth, aren't just making big numbers; they're redefining how millions of Nigerians move money," reports

TechCabal. "GTCO's HabariPay and Access' Hydrogen processed a combined 76.5 trillion ($47.7 billion) in transactions in 2024, up 217% from 24.1trillion ($15.0 billion) in 2023, according to their latest full-year financial reports."

Lagos-based analyst Abimbola Adewale said merchant retention and platform stickiness will be critical. "'If GTCO and Access can build ecosystems that keep users locked in, they could beat the fintechs at their own game. But if it turns into a price war, margins will vanish,' he said. 'There's also the matter of scale. While Hydrogen is being positioned as a pan-African payments backbone, continental expansion is costly and fraught with regulatory mismatches. Cross-border will be tough. But if they pull it off, Hydrogen could become the AWS of African payments."

Building a digital fintech infrastructure stack will be one of the themes of Retail Banking Council Africa on 21 May.