Payment methods in Nigeria

Flutterwave is a pan-African fintech unicorn enabling Nigerian and African merchants to accept and process payments across multiple methods including cards, bank transfers, mobile money, and USSD. It is particularly strong for cross-border payments, helping Nigerian businesses accept international customers.

Generic online and mobile bank-transfer methods (internet banking, e-banking, EFT and interbank transfers). Customers pay directly from their bank account via their bank's own online/mobile banking portal. Implementation and rails differ by country, but the consumer flow is a standard account-to-account bank transfer.

Verve is Nigeria's dominant domestic card scheme, issued by Interswitch and supported by all major Nigerian banks. It accounts for the majority of card transactions in Nigeria and is designed for the local market — enabling payments at Nigerian merchants with lower cross-border capability than international schemes. Verve is the backbone of Nigeria's domestic e-commerce payments.

Paystack (acquired by Stripe in 2020) is Nigeria's leading payment gateway, processing over half of all online transactions in the country. It supports card payments, bank transfers, mobile money, and USSD payments through a single API. Paystack is the default integration for most Nigerian e-commerce startups and established merchants.

Opay and PalmPay are Chinese-backed Nigerian fintech apps that have rapidly grown to serve urban and peri-urban consumers with wallet-based payments, transfers, and bill payments. Both platforms have gained tens of millions of registered users and are increasingly integrated into merchant checkouts.

Pocket (formerly Abeg) is PiggyVest's social-commerce payments app for sending money, requesting payments and online checkout. Operator: PiggyVest (PiggyTech Global). Est. users: Millions of users (2024, est.).