What Type of Bank is OPay?

OPay is a digital bank in Nigeria that offers mobile money services such as funds transfer, bill payments, loans and virtual debit cards to its users. Beyond money transfer, OPay has boasted for over 500,000 of POS agents offering financial services to the banked, underbanked and unbanked areas of Nigeria.

In essence, OPay is primarily used in Nigeria as a fintech app that operates in technology sector. It can be seen as an alternative to traditional banks. The finance app has also boasted over over 35+ million registered app users in the country.

However, I have seen many people asking this question: “What type of Bank is OPay”. This is the major reason I curated this article to enlighten many OPay users about what the fintech app really do.

OPay is not a Bank (but it offer similar services)

OPay is not a traditional bank in Nigeria, as it doesn’t have banking license. However, OPay is a mobile money platform and fintech company. It’s licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as a Mobile Money Operator (MMO).

As a MMO in Nigeria, OPay is entitled to offer banking services including Money transfer, Bill payments, Airtime top-up, Savings and investments (through OWealth), Debit card issuance and many more.

However, it’s important to let you know that OPay may not offer all the services a traditional bank does; it cannot make naira note, issue cheque or hold a domiciliary account. Only traditional banks are permitted or licensed to perform all these functions.

Advantages of OPay compared to Traditional Banks

• Lower Transaction fees: OPay often has lower fees for services compared to banks. The fintech app offers three free daily transfer to any bank in Nigeria. Traditional Banks only offer free transfer within their banking system.
• Accessibility: With OPay, you have wider access to financial services, especially in areas with limited access to traditional bank’s branches.
• In addition, OPay partnered with BlueRidge Microfinance Bank to offers you best Savings and Investment plan. One of the savings plan available on OPay is the OWealth savings feature.

OPay Bank?

OPAY is not a Bank, but a Mobile Money Operator (MMO) offering financial services similar to traditional banks in Nigeria. OPay was given a MMO License in 2018 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Till date, OPay is still maintaining it operating license as a mobile money operators and haven’t announced any plan of upgrading to a commercial bank in Nigeria.

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