SmartCash Payment Service Bank (PSB), Airtel Nigeria’s financial services arm, has crossed nearly three million active users as it doubles down on a zero-fee banking model and a market-leading 15% annual interest rate on savings deposits.
The company says the three million figure reflects customers who have transacted within the last 30 days, a stricter metric than the six-month definition of “active” used by many banks.
By its internal count, usage over 60- and 90-day windows is significantly higher, underscoring what it describes as strong and growing engagement across the country.
Since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced (PSBs) in 2018, telecom-led fintechs have struggled to convert subscriber scale into financial clout.
Airtel’s SmartCash generated only $6 million in revenue as of December 2025 in Nigeria. This is tiny compared to players like OPay and PalmPay, which dominate the mobile money space. PalmPay’s revenue alone was $63.9 million in 2023.
Mobile money is Nigeria’s fastest-growing financial segment, with transactions reaching ₦20.71 trillion ($13.49 billion) in Q1 2025, according to NIBSS. But regulation remains a structural drag for PSBs, who cannot lend, face tougher capital rules, and entered the market late. To catch up, PSBs like Airtel’s Smartcash are going on the offensive to build deposits and stickiness.
The latest push comes as SmartCash transitions from what began as a temporary incentive into a structural “Zero-Charges” strategy designed to compete directly with dominant fintechs such as OPay and Moniepoint.
SmartCash users pay no fees for interbank transfers, bill payments, or SMS transaction alerts, charges that typically cost bank customers between ₦10 and ₦50 per transfer, excluding VAT, depending on transaction size.
For everyday users, that means sending money to any bank in Nigeria from a SmartCash wallet costs ₦0. Paying electricity, cable TV, or water bills attracts no convenience fee. SMS alerts, which traditional banks often bill monthly, are also free. Only government-mandated stamp duties on transfers above ₦10,000 ($7.39) still apply.
Chief Executive Officer Ayotunde Kuponiyi described the move as a deliberate effort to remove what he calls the “psychological tax” that discourages low-income and rural Nigerians from fully embracing digital finance.
“Transaction costs act as barriers to people accessing financial services,” Kuponiyi said. “We are eliminating this barrier, come and transact.”
Beyond zero fees, SmartCash is offering incentives aimed at deepening wallet usage. Customers can receive up to 10% cashback on airtime and data purchases made via the app or USSD code *939#. More significantly, the company now pays a flat 15% per annum interest on balances in its savings wallet.
Unlike many traditional savings accounts that restrict the number of withdrawals eligible for interest, SmartCash says it pays interest irrespective of how often customers access their funds. Interest is calculated daily and credited daily, compounding automatically as each day’s earnings are added to the principal for the next calculation cycle.
Kuponiyi noted that while the 15% rate is attractive, it remains tied to Nigeria’s monetary environment.
“It is subject to the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR). If the MPR changes significantly, it doesn’t make sense to keep paying 15%,” he said.
To address concerns about failed transactions, a persistent pain point in Nigeria’s digital banking ecosystem, SmartCash says it operates an auto-reversal system. Failed transfers are automatically returned to customers’ wallets, in line with Central Bank of Nigeria guidelines requiring resolution within 24 hours. The company also runs a toll-free customer care line (939) for dispute resolution.
SmartCash’s scale is anchored on Airtel’s nationwide footprint. Kuponiyi argued that telecommunications infrastructure provides a reliability edge.
“Most banking links ride on telecom services. Who better to provide it?” he said, pointing to coverage across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas and a network of over 500,000 agents for cash-in and cash-out services.
While Kuponiyi declined to disclose detailed revenue mechanics, he framed the zero-charge model as a long-term commitment rather than a promotional burn. The broader goal, he said, is to use deposits and transaction activity to power a wider ecosystem that could eventually include credit, insurance, and remittance services.
Comments
Post a Comment