This is Follow the Money, our weekly series that unpacks the earnings, business, and scaling strategies of African fintechs and financial institutions. A new edition drops every Monday.
Banks are traditionally wired to make money from interest on loans, treasury bills, and small service charges. But over the last few years, technology has created a new, growing revenue source: digital payments.
In the first nine months of 2025, eight of the country’s biggest banks earned ₦514.82 billion ($356.91 million) from electronic payments, a 14.41% jump from the ₦450.02 billion ($311.99 million) in the same period of 2024. From being a marginal line item, electronic banking income is increasingly becoming one of the most reliable revenue streams for traditional banks, fuelled by higher transfer volumes, rising dependence on mobile apps, internet banking, and card usage.
The banks—Access Holdings Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Plc, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, First HoldCo Plc, Wema Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, and Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc—saw their combined e-payments revenue rise to ₦514.82 billion ($356.91 million), from ₦450.02 billion ($311.99 million) in the same period of 2024, according to their financial statements.
The 2025 Leaderboard (vs. 2024)
E-Banking Income by Bank (in ₦ Billions)
UBA reported the highest value of ₦157.51 billion ($109.19 million), followed by Access with ₦151.35 billion ($104.93 million). Wema, meanwhile, posted the fastest growth rate at 160.32% to ₦24.42 billion ($16.93 million).
The combined e-payments revenue of these eight banks accounted for 26.38% of the total ₦1.95 trillion ($1.35 billion) in fees and commissions that banks netted. In the same period of 2024, it accounted for 29.03% of the total ₦1.55 trillion ($1.08 billion).
As cashless transactions grow, e-payment commissions have become a dependable source of non-interest income for banks. Nigeria recorded a 59% drop in cash usage between 2014 and 2024, outpacing the Philippines, Indonesia, and Germany. This shift has been driven by increasing smartphone penetration, fintech reliability, and regulatory nudges like cashless policy limits and instant payment rails.
How banks make money from digital payments
In 2024, transactions processed through web and mobile channels totalled ₦2.27 quadrillion ($1.57 trillion), a 72.63% rise from ₦1.32 quadrillion ($915.12 billion) in 2023, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria. In the first quarter of 2025, Nigerians have already moved ₦647.05 trillion ($448.58 billion) through these channels.
Banks earn a commission on every transfer: ₦10 for transactions below ₦5,000; ₦25 for transfers between ₦5,001 and ₦50,000; and ₦50 for anything above ₦50,000.
How much do your bank transfers cost you?
Those ₦10, ₦25, and ₦50 fees add up. Estimate your
average week of transfers to see your personal cost.
Your estimated annual cost in transfer fees:
₦0
Enter your weekly transfers above to see your cost. This is your personal
slice of the ₦514 billion Nigerian banks earned from
e-payments in just nine months of 2025.
For instance, GTCO, through its two digital platforms—GTWorld and GAPS/GAPSLite—processed ₦35.8 trillion ($24.82 billion) in transactions in the first half of 2025. If the average transfer value was ₦50,000 ($34.66), that would have been 716 million transactions, generating ₦35.80 billion ($24.82 million) in fees at ₦50 per transaction.
This calculation does not include the government’s ₦50 deduction on electronic transfers above ₦10,000.
Growing demand and competition
As the volume of transfers climbs, so does the pressure on infrastructure. Transfer volumes via web and mobile channels grew 17.57% to 31.76 billion in 2024. To meet this, six of these banks spent ₦301.54 billion ($209.05 million) on IT and tech-related services in the first nine months of 2025, a 11.39% rise year-on-year.
While these investments are in part demand-driven, they are also part of banks’ defence mechanism against fintech.
Fintechs like OPay and PalmPay have reshaped consumer expectations with convenience and speed. While they processed ₦20.71 trillion ($14.36 billion) in Q1 2025, tiny next to what banks handle, their numbers represent a 1,518.64% jump from Q1 2021, signalling their rising popularity among Nigerians.
Limits
Despite the growth in electronic payment, only one in four informal businesses says digital payments account for at least 10% of their total revenue, according to Moniepoint’s 2025 Informal Economy Report.
Most small businesses still operate primarily in cash. While transfers now account for 39% of their payments, cash remains king at 51%. This figure reveals the reality of the country’s payment boom, with many still shut out.
Infrastructure gaps are also shaping the limits of the boom. Six in ten Nigerians remain offline, especially in rural areas. Only 39% of people in rural areas had smartphones compared to 73% in urban areas in 2024. Much of Nigeria’s population can still not afford to make a transfer. This suggests that while banks’ e-payment income is growing, it is nowhere near its peak; a huge population is still offline.
However, as banks cash out from transaction volumes, there are concerns about whether digital payments are expanding access or simply becoming another rent collection system, benefiting banks. Fintechs spotted this gap and lowered fees while offering faster speeds. Banks still dominate the numbers, but they are paying attention. In April 2025, Sterling Bank scrapped transfer charges on its OneBank app.
Exchange rate used: ₦1,442.43/$
