Banking around the world · Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa

South Africa's instant rails, Kenya's mobile money, West Africa's shared central bank

This edition covers banking in Sub-Saharan Africa, led by South Africa, with Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and the eight-country WAEMU zone served by the BCEAO. Well-supervised banks in South Africa sit beside Nigeria's busy instant payments, Kenya's M-PESA and West Africa's shared currency, and PAPSS is joining these markets up. See what the Gulf can learn here, and what it can offer.

Compare the regions

JohannesburgLagosNairobiKigali

At a glance

500 million+PayShap payments in South Africa in 2025, worth about R486 billion (Absa CEO via TimesLIVE, August 2026)

KES 41.7 trillionValue moved through M-PESA in the year to March 2026 (Safaricom FY2026 results)

₦1.07 quadrillionValue of payments processed by NIBSS in Nigeria in 2024 (NIBSS, July 2026)

28 countriesOn PAPSS, Africa's cross-border payment system, with 190+ banks and fintechs (July 2026)

Sub-Saharan Africa

The markets

South Africa

South African rand (ZAR), floating · Johannesburg · Cape Town · Pretoria

Central bank: South African Reserve Bank (SARB): monetary policy and payments; its Prudential Authority supervises banks and insurers
Supervisors: Twin Peaks (2018): Prudential Authority and FSCA (conduct); National Credit Regulator; Financial Intelligence Centre (AML)
Payment rails: PayShap instant payments (2023), run by PayInc (formerly BankservAfrica, half SARB-owned); real-time clearing; DebiCheck; SAMOS settlement
Open finance: No open-finance law yet (2026); the SARB's payments modernisation programme is building a digital identity layer
Deposit protection: CODI, a SARB subsidiary: up to R100,000 per depositor per bank since April 2024
Digital banks: No separate licence: TymeBank, Discovery Bank and Bank Zero hold standard bank licences
Islamic finance: About 0.1% of banking assets (IFSB, Q3 2024); Al Baraka Bank since 1989, windows at Absa and FNB; USD 500 million sovereign sukuk (2014)

Nigeria

Nigerian naira (NGN), market-determined since 2023 · Lagos · Abuja

Central bank: Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN): monetary policy; licenses and supervises banks, microfinance banks and payment providers
Supervisors: CBN with NDIC; SEC (capital markets, digital assets); NAICOM (insurance); FCCPC (consumers, digital lenders)
Payment rails: NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP, since 2011), NQR codes, AfriGo national cards (2023), USSD and mobile money
Open finance: CBN framework (2021) and guidelines (2023); the planned August 2025 go-live slipped, so check current status
Deposit protection: NDIC: up to NGN 5 million per depositor at deposit money banks; NGN 2 million at microfinance, mortgage and payment service banks
Digital banks: No digital-bank licence; Moniepoint and Kuda hold microfinance-bank licences, OPay and PalmPay mobile-money ones
Islamic finance: About 1.3% of banking assets (IFSB, Q3 2024); non-interest banking since 2011: Jaiz Bank, TAJBank, Lotus Bank; road sukuk since 2017

Kenya

Kenyan shilling (KES), floating · Nairobi · Mombasa

Central bank: Central Bank of Kenya (CBK): monetary policy; supervises banks, microfinance banks, digital lenders and mobile money
Supervisors: CBK; Capital Markets Authority; Insurance Regulatory Authority; SASRA for SACCOs; Financial Reporting Centre for AML
Payment rails: M-PESA (2007) and other mobile money; PesaLink bank transfers (2017); KEPSS settlement; the KE-QR standard (2023)
Open finance: No open-banking rules yet; a draft National Payment System Bill (2026) targets interoperability
Deposit protection: KDIC: up to KES 500,000 per depositor per member institution (since 2020)
Digital banks: No digital-bank licence; banks lend via M-PESA (M-Shwari, Fuliza); 195 licensed digital lenders (end-2025)
Islamic finance: About 1.3% of banking assets (IFSB, Q3 2024); Gulf African Bank, DIB Bank Kenya, Premier Bank Kenya and Islamic windows

Ghana

Ghana cedi (GHS), floating · Accra · Kumasi

Central bank: Bank of Ghana (BoG): monetary policy; supervises banks, savings and loans, rural banks, microfinance and e-money issuers
Supervisors: BoG; SEC; National Insurance Commission; National Pensions Regulatory Authority; Financial Intelligence Centre
Payment rails: GhIPSS (BoG subsidiary, 2007): GhIPSS Instant Pay, mobile money interoperability (2018), GhQR and gh-link cards; the GhanaPay wallet
Open finance: No open-banking rules yet (2026); payment firms are licensed under Act 987 (2019)
Deposit protection: Ghana Deposit Protection Corporation (2016); since 2026 its board reviews cover limits every two years
Digital banks: No digital-bank licence: bank apps and e-money issuers such as MTN MoMo carry everyday payments
Islamic finance: No licensed Islamic bank (2026); Nigeria's non-interest model is the closest reference

XOF

WAEMU / BCEAO zone (e.g. Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal)

West African CFA franc (XOF), pegged to the euro (EUR 1 = XOF 655.957) · Abidjan · Dakar

Central bank: BCEAO (Dakar): one monetary policy for Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo
Supervisors: WAMU Banking Commission (Abidjan) for banks and large microfinance institutions; AMF-UMOA; CIMA
Payment rails: PI-SPI, the BCEAO's interoperable instant platform (treasuries joining in 2026); STAR-UEMOA settlement; Orange Money, Wave and other wallets
Open finance: No open-banking regime (2026); PI-SPI's shared standards drive interoperability
Deposit protection: Regional fund FGDR-UMOA (created 2014) protects depositors across the union
Digital banks: No separate licence; BCEAO-licensed e-money issuers such as Wave fill much of the gap
Islamic finance: BCEAO Islamic finance rules (2018); Banque Islamique du Sénégal; sovereign sukuk from Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Togo (2014–2016)

How banking is organised in Sub-Saharan Africa

Most countries have one central bank that supervises banks, with separate authorities for securities, insurance and pensions. South Africa runs a Twin Peaks model, the WAEMU and CEMAC zones share regional central banks across 14 countries, and pan-African groups operate in many markets at once.

South Africa: five large groups (Standard Bank, FirstRand, Absa, Nedbank and Capitec) dominate retail banking, beside newer banks such as TymeBank.
Nigeria: a recapitalisation programme with a 31 March 2026 deadline raised minimum capital to NGN 500 billion (international), NGN 200 billion (national) and NGN 50 billion (regional banks).
Kenya: the CBK supervises 39 banking institutions and 14 microfinance banks (end-2025), and minimum core capital is rising in phases to KES 10 billion by 2029.
Regional unions: the BCEAO serves eight WAEMU countries and the BEAC six CEMAC countries, each with a euro-pegged currency and a regional banking commission.
Groups such as Standard Bank, Ecobank, Access Bank, Equity and KCB operate across borders, so home and host supervisors must cooperate.

Payments and open finance

Mobile money is part of daily life across much of the region, and instant bank payments are catching up fast. Open banking is still early: Nigeria has CBN rules (2021, 2023) but a delayed launch; elsewhere no regime is in force.

South Africa: PayShap carried 500 million+ payments in 2025; the SARB's modernisation goal is 500 million instant payments a month.
Kenya: M-PESA moved KES 41.7 trillion in the year to March 2026; the KE-QR standard (2023) lets one code accept many providers.
Nigeria: NIBSS processed ₦1.07 quadrillion in 2024, and its new ISO 20022 National Payment Stack now carries live transactions.
Ghana's GhIPSS has linked wallets and bank accounts since 2018; the BCEAO's PI-SPI connects eight countries, and public treasuries are joining.
PAPSS (Afreximbank and the African Union, January 2022) clears cross-border payments in local currencies; the BEAC joined in July 2026 and a BCEAO pilot is planned.

Fintech, digital banks and digital assets

Nigeria and Kenya host many of Africa's best-known fintechs, and mobile-money operators serve millions without a bank account. Regulators now license digital lenders and crypto firms rather than just watching them.

Kenya: 195 licensed digital credit providers by end-2025, 110 of them licensed that year; the VASP Act 2025 names the CBK and CMA as regulators.
Nigeria: Moniepoint, OPay, PalmPay and Kuda serve millions; the FCCPC registers digital lenders, and the SEC oversees digital assets (2025 Act).
South Africa: crypto assets have been a financial product since 2022, and the FSCA licenses crypto-asset service providers.
Ghana: the VASP Act, 2025 (Act 1154) sets up licensing through a new BoG Virtual Assets Department.
WAEMU: e-money issuers such as Wave and Orange Money follow BCEAO rules; in October 2026 the BCEAO set terms for wallet transfers through PI-SPI.

Rules a bank must map here

Banks apply Basel-based capital rules, expected-credit-loss provisioning, FATF-aligned AML/CFT laws and data-protection rules. South Africa and Nigeria left the FATF's increased-monitoring list in October 2025; Kenya and Côte d'Ivoire were still on it in June 2026.

South Africa: the Banks Act, the Financial Sector Regulation Act 2017, the National Credit Act, the FIC Act, POPIA and joint cyber standards.
Nigeria: BOFIA 2020, CBN prudential and non-interest rules, the AML Act 2022, the Data Protection Act 2023 and FCCPC digital-lending rules (2025).
Kenya: the Banking Act, CBK prudential guidelines (with D-SIB drafts, September 2026), the AML law, the Data Protection Act 2019 and the VASP Act 2025.
Ghana: Act 930 on banks and deposit-takers, the AML Act 2020, the Data Protection Act (Act 843), Act 987 on payments and the BoG cyber directive (2026).
WAEMU: the regional banking law, BCEAO instructions, Basel II/III-based rules since 2018, the uniform AML/CFT law and national data-protection laws.

What operations teams wrestle with

Digital volumes are rising fast on instant rails and wallets, while cash and agents still matter. Fraud, agent oversight, currency swings and cross-border group structures shape the daily work.

Scams and SIM-swap fraud on PayShap, NIP and wallets: banks add name checks, limits for new payees and real-time monitoring.
Agents are the front line: much cash-in and cash-out runs through them, so liquidity, conduct and fraud checks reach far beyond branches.
Currency swings: the naira and the cedi moved sharply in 2022–2024, so treasury, pricing and capital plans need regular stress tests.
Higher capital rules in Nigeria and Kenya bring capital raising, mergers and system integration.
Cross-border groups must meet each host's outsourcing and data rules when sharing services.

How SMEs get financed

Banks lend to SMEs, but collateral demands, high rates and thin credit files hold many back. Development banks, guarantees, microfinance and fintech lenders fill much of the gap.

South Africa: SEDFA, the state small-enterprise development and finance agency (2024), and fintech lenders such as Lula add to bank credit.
Nigeria: the Development Bank of Nigeria lends through banks, the Bank of Industry lends directly, and the National Collateral Registry lets firms pledge movable assets.
Kenya: SACCOs, the government's Hustler Fund mobile loans (2022) and a credit guarantee scheme support small firms.
Ghana: Development Bank Ghana (2021) on-lends through banks, and GIRSAL shares risk on farm loans.
WAEMU: microfinance institutions are central, and a BCEAO support framework helps banks finance SMEs.

Islamic finance: an eye opener

Islamic finance: real demand, early days

Tens of millions of Muslims live in this region, from northern Nigeria to Senegal and the Kenyan coast, yet Islamic banking is still small. Nigeria's non-interest banks are growing fast from a low base, and South Africa and several WAEMU states have issued sovereign sukuk.

Islamic share of banking assets (IFSB, Q3 2024): Nigeria 1.3%, growing about 22% a year over five years; Kenya 1.3%; South Africa 0.1%.
Nigeria: CBN non-interest banking rules (2011), with Jaiz Bank, TAJBank and Lotus Bank; sovereign sukuk have funded federal roads since 2017.
Kenya: Gulf African Bank, DIB Bank Kenya and Premier Bank Kenya, plus Islamic windows, under the same CBK rules and deposit insurance as any bank.
WAEMU: BCEAO rules since 2018 and sovereign sukuk from Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Togo. South Africa: Al Baraka Bank and a 2014 sovereign sukuk.

What it offers everyone

Customers

Families and traders who avoid interest gain a formal way to finance a home, stock or equipment. The price is fixed at signing and tied to a real asset, and late-payment charges go to charity rather than compounding.

Banks and financiers

Access to large groups banks reach poorly today, from northern Nigeria to coastal Kenya. Asset-backed, trade-linked structures suit farm and trade finance.

Savers and investors

Profit-sharing accounts and sukuk backed by real projects, such as Nigeria's road sukuk, offer returns linked to real activity, with ethical screening.

The economy

Sukuk channel savings into roads and infrastructure, credit follows real trade, and inclusion widens among people who stay outside interest-based banking.

A concrete opening: Non-interest banks hold only about 1.3% of Nigeria's banking assets, while millions of traders and farmers avoid interest. Asset-based working capital, sold through agents and mobile apps, could reach them at scale.

Working with banking teams here

Working with banking teams in Sub-Saharan Africa

Common norms; individuals differ, and the five markets differ more. Greetings matter: greet everyone and ask how they are before business. Many teams move fast on digital products, while large banks decide through formal committees, and respect for seniority and titles is widespread.

Common norms; individuals differ.

South Africa: English is the main business language among 12 official ones; meetings start on time, and procurement often scores suppliers on B-BBEE.
Nigeria: use titles such as Dr or Chief until invited otherwise; energy and humour are welcome, and follow-up by phone or WhatsApp is normal.
Kenya: English and Kiswahili are official; meetings are courteous and consensus-minded, so confirm agreement in writing rather than reading silence as consent.
WAEMU: French is the working language; send agendas and summaries in French and expect formal written follow-up.
Plan around Friday midday prayers and Ramadan in northern Nigeria, Senegal and other Muslim-majority areas.

Learning from each other

What the GCC can learn from Sub-Saharan Africa

From Kenya: mobile money at national scale, with lending, savings and merchant payments built on one wallet.
From South Africa: Twin Peaks supervision, deposit insurance launched in 2024 and an instant rail pushed toward everyday use with a clear target.
From WAEMU and PAPSS: one central bank and one instant platform for eight countries, and cross-border payments in local currencies.

What Sub-Saharan Africa can learn from the GCC

Islamic finance at scale: Shariah governance, AAOIFI standards and sukuk experience that could help Nigeria's and Kenya's non-interest banks grow.
Open banking through licensed providers, and instant payments taken from plan to national use in a few years.
Clear, staged digital-bank licensing, and deposit protection designed for Islamic deposits, as in Bahrain and Oman.

The other regions

GCCIslamic finance at scale, national instant rails and regulators that move fast MENAEgypt's scale, Jordan's shared rails and Morocco's bridge to Africa EuropeWhere global banking rules are written: a banking union, a single rulebook and instant euro payments by law UK & wider EuropeLondon's rulebook, Swiss and Norwegian rails, Türkiye's scale and Ukraine's resilience North AmericaDeep markets, many banks and payment rails modernising across three economies Latin America & CaribbeanBrazil's Pix, Colombia's Bre-B and open finance set by rule South AsiaIndia's public rails, Pakistan's Islamic shift and Bangladesh's mobile money Central Asia & CaucasusKaspi's super app, Astana's financial centre and new Islamic windows East & Southeast AsiaScale, speed and public rails: five markets setting the pace of digital banking Australia & NZTrans-Tasman banking: real-time rails, data rights and firm conduct rules Compare the regionsAll eleven regions in one table

Sub-Saharan Africa

At a glance

The markets

How banking is organised in Sub-Saharan Africa

Payments and open finance

Fintech, digital banks and digital assets

Rules a bank must map here

What operations teams wrestle with

How SMEs get financed

Islamic finance: real demand, early days

What it offers everyone

Working with banking teams in Sub-Saharan Africa

What the GCC can learn from Sub-Saharan Africa

What Sub-Saharan Africa can learn from the GCC

Further reading