The development of the digital currency was born out of the need to provide "financial inclusion to the 36 million Nigerians who currently lack access to financial services."

A release by the Head of Communications & Branding at LAPO indicates that “LAPO MfB has won this award category for the ninth consecutive times."

Payhippo says this acquisition will enable them to directly access Nigeria’s Inter-bank Settlement System.

The grant will allow Opportunity International to provide micro and small business loans, digital tools and specialized technical training to women-led small- and micro businesses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda.

The investment in the nation's recovering financial sector is part of a wider SME strategy, which aims to help spur a greater range of financial products and services such as psychometric scoring solutions and payment systems reforms.

Nigeria is looking to real-time payments to help drive economic growth and financial inclusion as its volume of real-time transactions surged year-on-year by 94.7 percent to 3.7 billion in 2021.

The loan is expected to support at least 4,000 new SME loans in Nigeria.

Services the bank will offer include accepting deposits from individuals and small businesses, carrying out payment and remittance services within Nigeria, issuing debit and prepaid cards and more. 

Through this partnership, more than 5,000 MAX drivers will also gain access to digital financial services offered by VFD Microfinance bank.

The new products and services offered by the digital banking platform NowNow will further enhance its already existing services, consumer banking, agency banking and merchant payment solutions.