Nigeria: Airtel Money Excludes Nigerian Fintech From $7b IPO

6 October 2026
Daba Finance (Abidjan)

Airtel Money is set to list on the London Stock Exchange on October 14, but its Nigerian fintech business, SmartCash, will not be part of the initial public offering. This exclusion follows a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive, which required Airtel Money to transfer its 25% stake in SmartCash back to Airtel Networks Limited, its Nigerian telecom subsidiary. The transaction was completed for $3 million.

Airtel Money is exploring options to bring SmartCash Nigeria back within the group's perimeter, consistent with its other operations, though no assurance exists on timing or outcome. The group operates as a pan-African fintech platform across 13 African countries, serving approximately 53 million monthly active users as of June 30, 2026. This separation reflects a broader trend among African telecom companies to separate fintech businesses from core telecom operations, viewing mobile money as needing distinct capital structures and growth strategies.

The initial public offering values Airtel Money at £5.3 billion ($7 billion), with shares priced at £1.96 ($2.59) each. Nigeria, while Airtel Africa's second-largest telecom region by subscribers, contributed only 1.24% of Airtel mobile money's $404 million quarterly revenue and 6.02% of its customer base as of June 2026. This makes the Nigerian business a small part of the group being taken public, despite the country's significant mobile money market, which processed ₦20.71 trillion ($13.49 billion) in Q1 2025.

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The absence of SmartCash from the IPO is notable for investors, given the potential scale of the Nigerian market. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Payment Service Bank (PSB) licence restrictions, introduced in 2018, limit lending activities, a key revenue stream for fintechs. This regulatory environment, combined with competition from players like OPay and PalmPay, has made it challenging for telecom-led fintechs to convert subscriber scale into financial services dominance. Airtel Africa's CEO, Sunil Taldar, noted in 2025 that Nigeria is a well-developed and competitive fintech market.

Airtel Money continues to provide limited guidance and support to SmartCash Nigeria, offering technical expertise and management services, despite its current exclusion. This support is not considered material to the group's current operations. SmartCash is actively pursuing growth through a zero-fee banking model and a 15% annual interest rate on savings deposits. It has also integrated with multiple banks for wallet transfers and interbank transactions, aiming to capture a larger share of the transfer market. Future re-integration of SmartCash into the Airtel Money group remains subject to regulatory approvals.

Key Takeaways

The exclusion of Airtel Money's Nigerian operations from its London IPO highlights the unique challenges faced by telecom-led fintechs in Africa's largest economy. Since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced Payment Service Banks (PSBs) in 2018, these entities have struggled to convert their vast subscriber bases into dominant financial services platforms. A key impediment is the PSB licence's restriction on lending, which removes one of the most lucrative revenue streams for fintech companies. This regulatory limitation has allowed agile competitors like OPay and PalmPay to gain significant traction by offering a wider array of services, including credit and merchant solutions, building extensive distribution networks in the process. Despite MTN and Airtel collectively holding 86.02% of Nigeria's telecom market with 167.62 million subscribers, their mobile money businesses combined have yet to reach 10 million users. In contrast, OPay alone reported 39.3 million monthly active users in 2025 and a gross transaction value of $358 billion. MTN Nigeria's CEO, Karl Toriola, acknowledged in 2025 that MoMo PSB's initial expectations were revised due to intense competition and licence limitations, underscoring the need for additional licence capabilities to evolve in the market. Both Airtel's SmartCash and MTN's MoMo PSB are now intensifying efforts, with SmartCash pushing zero-fee banking and high interest rates, and MTN investing in agent networks and digital payments, as they navigate Nigeria's highly competitive and regulated fintech landscape.

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