Listing fintechs on the Stock Exchange

n n

The call by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) for President Bola Tinubu to mandate major fintechs to list on the Nigerian stock market deserves serious attention. NGX Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Temi Popoola made the appeal during an engagement with the President, against the background of the Exchange’s drive to deepen Nigeria’s capital market and ensure that businesses creating value in the country also create investment opportunities for Nigerians.

n

Fintechs are financial-technology companies that use digital technology to provide or improve financial services, from payments and transfers to savings, lending, investment, and banking-related services. Nigeria’s leading examples include Flutterwave, OPay, PalmPay, Moniepoint, Paystack, Paga, Kuda, PiggyVest, and Interswitch.

n

Their emergence was a response to gaps in the traditional financial system and the rapid spread of mobile phones, internet connectivity, and digital payments. As banks struggled with expensive branches, limited reach, and cumbersome processes, technology entrepreneurs built cheaper, faster, and more convenient channels. Regulatory innovations by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), including payment and agency-banking licences, helped create room for these businesses to expand.

n

Their growth has been remarkable. Flutterwave rose from a payments start-up to a multibillion-dollar African technology company; OPay and PalmPay rapidly built huge payment and agent networks; while Moniepoint grew from a business-payments platform into a major financial-services provider. Nigerian fintechs have attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital, created jobs, expanded financial inclusion, and challenged conventional banks.

n

Yet ownership remains largely in private hands. Founders, employees, venture-capital firms, private-equity investors, and strategic foreign investors hold stakes in many of these companies. This means millions of Nigerian customers use and generate value for businesses in which they cannot directly own shares. Some leading fintechs are reportedly considering overseas listings, making NGX’s intervention timely.

n

Listing them locally would have profound economic benefits. It would mobilise domestic savings into productive private enterprises, deepen the equities market, increase market capitalisation, and broaden the range of sectors represented on the Exchange. More importantly, it would democratise wealth creation by allowing pension funds, institutions, and individuals to participate in companies they already use.

n

Public listing would also impose greater disclosure, audited reporting, corporate-governance, and accountability standards. That transparency would strengthen investor confidence and make the companies more attractive to international capital. For fintechs, an NGX listing would provide long-term capital, strengthen their brands, create a liquid avenue for existing investors, and give them a credible domestic shareholder base. Dual listing abroad could still provide access to deeper global pools of capital.

n

President Tinubu should therefore give the NGX proposal serious and favourable consideration. The objective should not be crude compulsion but a framework making local or dual listing attractive and, where appropriate, obligatory. Nigeria should not merely provide the customers and market that make these digital giants successful.

n

Nigerians should also have a stake in their success.

n n