The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has acknowledged that regulatory friction, high compliance costs and protracted approval timelines are constraining innovation in Nigeria’s rapidly expanding fintech sector, as it unveiled a policy roadmap aimed at easing bottlenecks and supporting the next phase of digital financial growth.
In a newly released report titled Shaping the Future of Fintech in Nigeria: Innovation, Inclusion and Integrity, the apex bank admitted that although Nigeria has developed one of Africa’s most sophisticated fintech ecosystems, regulatory processes have not kept pace with the speed, scale and complexity of innovation now embedded in the financial system.
Based on a nationwide fintech survey and extensive stakeholder engagements, the report revealed that 87.5 per cent of fintech operators say compliance costs significantly limit their ability to innovate, while over 60 per cent report that regulatory timelines materially delay product launches. More than one-third of respondents indicated that it takes over a year to bring new products to market, largely due to licensing and approval bottlenecks.
The CBN noted that industry perceptions of the regulatory environment remain sharply divided, with half of fintech operators describing it as enabling and the other half viewing it as restrictive. This, the bank said, reflects challenges including unclear guidance, fragmented oversight and inconsistent application of rules across regulatory agencies.
Despite these concerns, the report positions fintech firms not as risks to be contained but as strategic partners in advancing financial inclusion, improving system efficiency and expanding access to digital financial services, particularly for underserved and unbanked populations.
It highlighted the systemic importance of fintech in Nigeria’s financial ecosystem, noting that the country’s real-time payments infrastructure processed nearly 11 billion instant transactions in 2024 alone, underscoring the need for a more agile, coordinated and forward-looking regulatory approach.
To address the identified gaps, the CBN outlined a reform roadmap centred on streamlining approvals, enhancing inter-agency coordination and reducing friction for compliant operators. Key proposals include the establishment of a standing CBN–fintech engagement platform, the operationalisation of a Single Regulatory Window to harmonise multi-agency approval processes, and the deployment of supervisory technology (SupTech) to shorten approval timelines and strengthen oversight.
The report also proposed the introduction of shared compliance utilities, including a compliance-as-a-service model, to ease the regulatory burden on smaller fintech firms while improving transparency for supervisors.
In parallel, the CBN signalled plans to accelerate open banking implementation, expand access to affordable digital identity infrastructure and strengthen interoperability across payment and credit systems to support innovation and scale.
Cross-border expansion emerged as another major pressure point. With more than 60 per cent of surveyed fintechs planning regional growth, the apex bank acknowledged that fragmented regulatory frameworks across Africa significantly increase costs and operational complexity. As a response, it proposed piloting regulatory passporting arrangements with peer African regulators to enable mutual recognition of licences and facilitate smoother regional expansion.
Reacting to the report in a post on X, the CBN described the publication as a candid assessment of Nigeria’s fintech landscape and a practical guide for reform. It noted that the report evaluates the maturity and scale of the ecosystem, highlights Nigeria’s leadership in real-time payments, and outlines policy priorities to strengthen regulatory coordination, supervisory capacity and responsible innovation, including cross-border growth.
According to the apex bank, the report forms part of an ongoing policy insight series aimed at deepening engagement with the financial sector, providing clearer regulatory direction and supporting more coordinated policy execution. It is intended to serve as a common reference point for banks, fintech firms, regulators, infrastructure providers and investors as Nigeria consolidates its position within the regional and global fintech ecosystem.
While reaffirming its commitment to financial integrity and consumer protection, the CBN stressed that innovation and regulation must advance in tandem.
The report concludes that Nigeria’s fintech challenge is no longer a shortage of ideas or adoption, but the need to translate policy intent into faster execution, clearer rules and deeper trust between regulators and innovators.
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