Frontier Fintech GPS #29 - April 23rd 2025
CBK lifts moratorium on bank licensing, Safaricom gears up for a US$ 300 million upgrade, Moniepoint launches MonieWorld, it's remittance product and other stories that matter.
Illustration by Mary Mogoi
Hi All, Welcome to the 29th edition of Frontier Fintech GPS where I provide key insights on the top global Fintech news items that matter to you. This newsletter will be arriving in your inboxes every Wednesday morning. The idea behind Frontier Fintech GPS is to help you navigate the endless stream of Fintech news and get smart about global Fintech as it applies to Africa. To those who are yet to subscribe, hit the subscribe button below and share with your colleagues and friends. 🚀
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🇰🇪 CBK to Lift Moratorium on Licensing New Commercial Banks
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) announced on April 16, 2025, that it will lift a moratorium on licensing new commercial banks, effective July 1, 2025, ending a freeze in place since November 17, 2015. Imposed due to governance, risk management, and operational challenges, the moratorium allowed time to strengthen the banking sector’s regulatory framework. The Business Laws (Amendment) Act, 2024, raised the minimum core capital requirement to KSh 10 billion ($77 million), ensuring new entrants are financially robust. This move is expected to spur competition, innovation, and financial inclusion, aligning with Kenya’s economic goals, with 46 licensed banks currently operating, including 39 commercial banks.
This is welcome news for the entire sector and should see increased investments into the banking sector. Whilst its maturing, there’s always scope for players who come in with new propositions. The initial moratorium on licensing was overkill in my view, the proverbial responding to a mosquito bite with a hammer. This move by the CBK represents a broader shift towards a more innovation friendly Central Bank which was certainly not the case before. Hopefully this should also see friendlier licensing across PSPs and MicroFinance Banks as the Central Bank also works on the Faster Payment System. Within the banking licensing framework, one innovation by the Apex bank could be to introduce licensing specifically for digital banks as we’ve seen in countries like Thailand, South Korea and the Philippines. This would not only see pure Neobanks launching, but it would give incumbent banks a platform to ideate particularly as AI creates a platform shift from both a technological infrastructure perspective and a customer expectations perspective.
🇰🇪 Safaricom Invests $300M to Upgrade M-PESA Platform
Safaricom, Kenya’s leading telecom, has committed $300 million (KSh 40 billion) to overhaul its M-PESA mobile money platform, dubbed M-PESA 2.0, as it marks its 18th anniversary, serving 34 million users in Kenya and processing KSh 40.2 trillion in transactions in 2024. The upgrade focuses on enhancing security, reliability, and user experience, with new features like cross-border transfers and virtual cards for global payments. Facing competition from Airtel Money, which grew its market share to 9%, and regulatory pressures, Safaricom aims to maintain its 91% dominance in Kenya’s mobile money market while expanding in Ethiopia, where M-PESA has 10.8 million users.
This should be the 4th or 5th major upgrade since M-Pesa launched back in 2007, with the last major upgrade happening in 2017 if I’m not mistaken. The challenge here is that M-Pesa as a platform is vendor-driven with Huawei providing the entirety of the system including the data-centre. This works and continues to work but one always can question whether this may be a source of long-term competitive disadvantage in a world of continuous innovation. Increasingly Fintechs are building and running their entire stack. Nonetheless Huawei is a world class partner and should provide a world class system. The fact that Huawei is leading China’s AI efforts should also bode well for their customers in Africa with M-Pesa being one of them.
🇳🇬 Nigeria | CBEX Crypto Scheme Losses Estimated at $6.1M, Not $822M
Contrary to claims that Nigerians lost ₦1.3 trillion ($822 million) to the collapsed CryptoBridge Exchange (CBEX), a suspected Ponzi scheme, Techpoint Africa’s blockchain analysis estimates total deposits at $6.1 million across connected wallets, which are still receiving funds from $1 to $7,000. CBEX, posing as a US-registered crypto exchange with fake FinCEN credentials, promised 100% monthly returns, luring investors since July 2024. The platform crashed in April 2025, wiping balances and restricting withdrawals, prompting Nigeria’s SEC to warn against unregistered platforms and highlight the Investment and Securities Act (2025), which deems such operations illegal.
Whenever I see such headlines such as the amounts that were lost via CBEX as well as the supposed KES 766 billion (US$ 6 billion) that Kenyans spend on betting every year, I’m always left puzzled. What you should ask yourself, if there was an immediate ban on betting in Kenya for instance, would other industries experience an increase of US$ 6 billion in new purchasing power? That includes money being saved in the banking system. The answer is no. There may be a US$ 1 billion increase at most. The reality is that most of these numbers are often overhyped of if true, like the Kenyan Betting number, then they represent other types of money flows including money laundering. The latter is the most logical explanation for most of this activity.
🇳🇬 Moniepoint Launches UK-Nigeria Remittance App 'MonieWorld'
Moniepoint Inc., a leading Nigerian fintech, has introduced MonieWorld, a remittance app enabling UK residents to send money to Nigeria in seconds with no transaction fees and a competitive £1 to ₦2,172 exchange rate, targeting the $20.98 billion UK-Nigeria remittance corridor. Launched via its London-based subsidiary, Moniepoint GB, the app supports bank transfers, cards, and mobile payments like Apple Pay, aiming to address the fragmented needs of the African diaspora. Processing over $22 billion in monthly transactions, Moniepoint plans to expand MonieWorld into a full-fledged financial platform, boosting financial inclusion and UK-Nigeria trade following a $110 million Series C round in 2024 backed by Google and Visa.
Moniepoint’s foray into remittances is an interesting one. The new service is targeted at enabling people in the UK send money home in an easier, more reliable way. This is Moniepoint’s reputation of technical depth meeting a US$ 100 billion payment flow. I see MonieWorld becoming a global remittance play and this expanding across the continent. The question would be, why is Moniepoint going into remittances whilst it is arguably a race to zero from a cost perspective? My take is that if Moniepoint is planning to be a Pan-African bank or at least a major bank in Nigeria, then capturing these remittance flows at source gives it a long-term FX advantage as they’d own the end to end pipes. This would enable them to offer zero cost transfer fees or at least ensure that remittance fees are a cost leader whilst making money from FX in Nigeria or any other market they’re in. This is at core what makes Neobanks like Nubank and Moniepoint such formidable long-term plays. Technology at core enables you to do things that incumbent banks would struggle with. FX in Africa is a major raw material for the success of any bank.
🇰🇪 Nairobi Securities Exchange to Launch Regulated Blockchain Asset Exchange
Kenya’s Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has partnered with Canadian DeFi firms—DeFi Technologies, SovFi, and Valour Inc.—to launch the Kenya Digital Exchange (KDX), a regulated platform for tokenizing and trading real-world assets like equities, debt, and commodities, built on the Hedera blockchain using HBAR tokens. Set to roll out in three phases, KDX will focus on platform design, regulatory compliance, investor onboarding, and pilot trading of exchange-traded products. The initiative aims to deepen market access and position Kenya as a financial hub, though reliance on foreign infrastructure raises questions about Africa’s digital sovereignty
The larger question is the world is full of ETFs and other innovative investment products that run on TradFi rails. Why then would the NSE look to invest in tokenising real world assets? First, the investors who have money and want exposure to such assets already have such exposure through banks like Standard Chartered. The younger ones that want to invest in Crypto already can through exchanges like Binance, Krakken and the likes of Busha. It seems like a PR exercise for me. The NSE has stagnated over the years from both a revenue and a product perspective and requires deeper reform than introducing flashy crypto products.
🇪🇬 DPI Acquires Fintech Fund Nclude
UK-based Development Partners International (DPI) has assumed management of Nclude, Egypt’s largest fintech fund with $105 million in assets, previously managed by Global Ventures, to drive fintech innovation and financial inclusion. Launched in 2022 with backing from Banque Misr, National Bank of Egypt, and Banque du Caire, Nclude has invested $28 million in nine startups, including Paymob and Khazna. DPI, which has invested $850 million in Egypt over the past decade, also launched DPI Venture Capital to target early-stage tech firms across Africa, leveraging its expertise from portfolio companies like MNT Halan to strengthen Egypt’s fintech ecosystem.
DPI led Moniepoint’s famous US$ 110 million round, adding it a Fintech portfolio that included MNT Halan. DPI’s efforts need to be seen in the context of Helios also raising a US$750m fund with a good chunk earmarked for Fintech. The larger play in my view is based on the fact that Africa’s Fintech revenues are projected to up to US$ 47 billion whilst a QED report puts Neobank revenues in Africa at US$ 65 billion by 2030. Financial Services is always a strong bet in Africa and the bet here is that Fintechs will take a larger chunk of the broader financial service pie in the years to come. This is already being proven out by the growth of MoMo and mature Fintechs like Tymebank, MNT Halan and others. DPI and Helios’ moves just serve to validate this view.
🇿🇦 Capitec Launches 'Simple Fees' Campaign
Capitec, South Africa’s leading digital bank, launched its 'Simple Fees' campaign on April 22, 2025, introducing a clear '1, 2, 3, 6, 10' fee structure to make banking costs transparent and easy to understand. Featuring a jingle sung by employees’ children, the initiative reinforces Capitec’s commitment to simplicity and affordability, aligning with its mission to enhance financial inclusion. The campaign, supported by cloud-based innovations via Amazon Web Services, aims to empower clients, including SMEs, by reducing banking complexity and fostering economic growth, as highlighted by Francois Viviers, group executive for marketing and communications.
Capitec has executed low-income banking like very few in the continent and serve as a model on contextual innovation. The major point about this is around the ad and how specifically solving problems for so long around a customer segment, gives you a high degree of empathy. The ad reflects that Capitec knows its client base and knows the value of simplicity in communicating to its base. It’s something that more Fintechs could do; simple and efficient communication.
🇳🇬 Access Holdings Invests $120M in Tech, Cuts Fraud Losses by 73%
Access Holdings Plc, parent of Access Bank, invested a record ₦193.5 billion ($120.5 million) in technology in 2024, a 147% increase from 2023, outpacing competitors like GTCO, UBA, and Zenith. The spending fueled upgrades to its Flexcube core banking software, cybersecurity enhancements, and market expansion into Tanzania, Namibia, and Hong Kong, supporting a growing digital customer base amid fintech competition. This investment slashed fraud losses by 73%, from ₦6.15 billion ($3.8 million) to ₦1.64 billion ($1 million), though 80% of IT costs remain tied to vendor-driven licensing and support. Access plans further staff training and tech investments in 2025 to balance innovation and efficiency.
I wrote some weeks back that the bulk of banks IT costs are vendor related and targeted at Opex. That Access Bank reported that 80% of its IT costs are vendor related just goes to prove it. These costs have almost nothing to do with slashing fraud rates, you don’t grow your IT costs by US$ 71 million to save US$ 2.8 million. The larger picture is around how these Opex budgets that will continue to grow given higher customer numbers and more deployments from a country perspective. The questions that arise are;
Will such budgets weaken the bank’s appetite for investing in transformational IT?
Will the bank have the appetite to rip out some of these systems in an AI driven banking era?
For new banks, does it make sense to tie yourself to such aggressive Annual Maintenance Contracts or should Core Banking vendors think about new pricing methods?
🇪🇺Italy Flags US Stablecoins as Threat to Euro Sovereignty
Italy’s Minister of Economy and Finance, Giancarlo Giorgetti, warned that US dollar-backed stablecoins, such as Tether and USD Coin, pose a more significant risk to European financial sovereignty than Donald Trump’s trade tariffs. Speaking in Milan on April 8, 2025, he highlighted how these stablecoins enable cross-border payments without US bank accounts, potentially undermining the euro’s dominance in international commerce. Amid US legislative efforts to regulate stablecoin issuers and the European Central Bank’s push for a digital euro, Giorgetti urged regulators to address the long-term impact of stablecoin adoption to protect Europe’s monetary independence.
This is an issue that I see arising across the world bringing stablecoins more and more into regulatory scrutiny. The industry needs to build around addressing some of these needs. In an up-coming podcast interview, one of the suggestions given was giving Central Banks the same visibility and contol that they have with current fiat based FX reserve management practices. The big question then becomes, what’s the difference between that and wholesale CBDCs?
🌍 Fireblocks Supports Circle’s USDC-Based Cross-Border Payment Network
Fireblocks has integrated support for Circle’s new Circle Payments Network (CPN), enabling its clients, such as B2B payments firm Conduit, to leverage USDC for real-time, cost-efficient cross-border fiat-to-fiat settlements. The CPN uses a “stablecoin sandwich” model, converting fiat to USDC for transfers and back to fiat, bypassing traditional intermediaries to reduce delays and fees. Fireblocks’ infrastructure allows seamless connectivity to CPN without requiring clients to switch providers, aligning with the growing use of stablecoins for payments, as highlighted in a Fireblocks report noting cross-border payments as the top stablecoin use case for payment companies.
Circle has been on a massive PR drive given the proposed IPO. Ideally, this move should make Circle a serious player in cross-border payments as Fireblocks is a key player in crypto-wallet infrastructure even in Africa. Tether has had such a headstart based on making the USDT widely available and low cost to transact. Over 97% of stablecoin based payments are done on USDT and USDT often accounts for over 60% of crypto volumes on most exchanges in the continent.