Opay Hits $2bn Gross Transaction in 2020

Nigeria’s fast-growing mobile money platform, OPay Digital Services Limited, has disclosed that its gross transaction in 2020 grew to $2billion.

The digital firm, also, unveiled a growth plan for 2021, saying the previous year as successful and transformative.
The Managing VP for Opay Nigeria, Joshua Yau revealed the plan at a news conference in Lagos recently with a projection to take the digital firm to a higher in the future.

Opay, licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, is a mobile money platform established in June 2018 and spread its services across all 36 states in Nigeria with over 300,000 mobile money agents.

At the conference, the managing VP said amidst the pandemic, lockdown and global uncertainty, Opay had its most impactful and transformative year yet in 2020.
As a payment company, the company’s helmsman disclosed, it grew its total gross transaction value 4.5 times to over $2 Billion in December 2020.

It said the point of sale terminals deployed in its mobile money agent and merchant network represented roughly 1/5 of offline payments in Nigeria by year end.
“Its mobile wallets have more than two million wallets with a total balance of over $17 million,” the managing VP disclosed during the news conference.

Opay Country Manager, Iniabasi Akpan gave a quick summary and review of the company’s operations and performance in 2020, focussing on how it provided Nigerians convenient access to cash and job creation, driven by innovation.
Akpan said: ”We helped to give easy access to financial services to close to more than ten million Nigerians in all corners of the country. Our agents serve a population that is far from bank branches and ATMs, often in the outskirts of cities, suburban areas or rural areas.

“The impact we have made so far could not have been without our most important partners – our agents and merchants. By providing their customers with convenience, they were able to earn a solid income with many expanding their businesses, even in the difficult pandemic.”

He also shed light on the gained perception that Opay “is a ride hailing company based on its Oride division,” saying the firm “is a payment and financial service company whose businesses are licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

In 2021, according to him, the growth plans will rely on developing and deepening their strategic partnerships in the financial ecosystem with banks, regulators, card schemes, payment processors, payment service providers and other key players.

He said Opay debit cards “is also scheduled to launch this year and it would be the first of its kind which will be directly linked to Opay wallets aimed to bolster its gospel of financial inclusion.

“CreditMe has also been launched to give easy access to credit to all wallet users at the point of purchase and a whole lot of innovative as well as supportive quality services.”