I’ve seen enough in this industry to separate pipe dreams from actual products. And when it comes to open banking in Africa, the balance is painfully off. The ideas are loud and ambitious. Everyone talks about transformation, disruption, and leapfrogging. But the infrastructure that’s meant to support all of that? It barely exists. Every year, there’s another fintech conference or digital economy summit. Another white paper from a central bank. Another flashy panel on financial inclusion. The language is always the same: bold claims about innovation, speeches about regional integration, and charts that promise a new era. But when you go looking for the actual APIs? The kind that allows real-time, secure, cross-platform data sharing between banks, fintechs, and other financial players? You find almost nothing. A few pilots here and there. Maybe a sandbox that went live for three months before going quiet. But very little that works in the wild.
Nigeria, despite all the wahala, has consistently led the way in fintech across Africa. It’s one of the few sectors in the country that actually works, and works well. So, in a way, it’s not surprising that Nigeria is also leading the charge for open banking. What might seem surprising to outsiders is that a country where the rules can shift overnight, where economic volatility is part of the fabric, and where regulatory clarity is often a moving target has managed to pull this off. Nigeria is the one African country that has taken open banking from a theoretical concept and turned it into a structured, policy-backed framework. The Central Bank of Nigeria released the official Open Banking Implementation Framework, complete with technical standards, governance models, and defined phases. If the implementation timeline holds, the first real open banking APIs could go live by August or September 2025. That is not just progress. It is a rare case of follow-through in a region that has grown used to stalling halfway.
Now compare that to the rest of the continent. Many countries are still in what can only be described as the “discussion phase.” Malawi, for instance, included a mention of open banking in its national payments strategy. That’s a start, but no more than a paragraph in a longer document. Kenya, widely seen as one of the more advanced digital economies on the continent, is still juggling consultations as part of its National Payment System Vision and Strategy. And Ghana? The Bank of Ghana has made a few encouraging noises about data sharing and fintech regulation, especially through its sandbox program. But when it comes to codified frameworks, technical specifications, or timelines, nothing concrete has emerged. The momentum just is not there.
And to be clear, this is not about who is more economically advanced or who has more polished systems. Nigeria is not ahead because it is better resourced or more efficient. If anything, Nigeria is often operating under heavier constraints. What sets Nigeria apart is its sheer persistence. The country has a reputation for being chaotic, but it also has a culture of figuring things out by force if necessary. There is an underlying stubbornness, a refusal to wait for everything to be perfect. That grit and willingness to keep pushing even when the system drags has moved Nigeria forward on open banking, while others are still reviewing consultation papers. And sometimes, that’s what it takes to break inertia.
Why does Africa even need open banking?
Because the bar is already on the floor!
Let’s start with the basics. In most African countries, there’s no financial infrastructure to upgrade in the first place. We’re not replacing old systems, we’re trying to build systems that never existed. While other regions debate how to modernize their legacy banks, most of Africa is still grappling with how to make even basic digital finance work reliably. In many places, checking an account balance or making a bank-to-bank transfer still feels like a small miracle.
This is why open banking matters so much here. In Africa, it isn’t just a convenience or a policy experiment. It’s an essential workaround to the deep infrastructure gaps that have held us back for decades.
In the UK, open banking was designed to force traditional banks to stop hoarding user data and start cooperating with tech innovators. In the US, open banking is being pushed as a way to clean up and modernize their fragmented ACH and legacy systems. But in Africa, we’re not talking about improvements. We’re talking about putting down a foundation so that digital finance can even begin to scale. It’s a chance to build shared rails that anyone can use, whether they’re a bank, a fintech startup, or a solo developer with a product idea.
Take a hard look at the numbers. Out of 54 African countries, only around 26 have functioning interbank transfer systems. That means in nearly half the continent, moving money from one bank to another is either unreliable, slow, or outright impossible. That’s not just an inconvenience. It’s a fundamental roadblock to any meaningful financial inclusion. Imagine trying to build a logistics business in a city with no roads. You can invest in the best trucks, hire the smartest drivers, set up warehouses, and optimize delivery routes. But if there’s no road network to begin with, none of that effort will matter. That’s where we are with financial systems in many parts of Africa.
Yes, mobile money has done a lot to plug some of these holes. M-Pesa transformed payments in Kenya. MoMo is widely used across West Africa. EcoCash has been essential in Zimbabwe. But these solutions were never built for open, interoperable innovation. They’re closed-loop systems, mostly designed to work within their networks. Yes, they work well in their home markets. But try launching a product that works across different mobile money providers, or scaling a fintech app across three or four countries, and you’ll quickly hit a wall. Without common APIs or open standards, every new market requires a rebuild from scratch. And that is not a sustainable path to growth.
Open banking changes that. It introduces a common language for financial services. Instead of everyone building their own isolated systems, it provides a framework where tools, apps, and platforms can actually connect. It makes it possible for a developer in Senegal to build a loan app that works in Uganda. It allows a bank in Ghana to securely share customer data with a licensed credit-scoring startup in Rwanda. It opens up space for real collaboration, where companies no longer have to reinvent the wheel every time they enter a new market. And that’s how you go from a one-country app to a continent-wide platform.
Credit, savings, identity; everything depends on open banking
When we talk about open banking, we’re not just talking about data access. We’re talking about opening up real financial opportunities.
It isn’t just about sharing data between banks and apps but giving people actual access to financial tools they’ve been locked out of for too long. Real access, not just signing up for an app and calling it a day.
Think about everyday life across Africa. A trader in Lagos is saving a little bit every day through a fintech app. A taxi driver in Accra runs their business with mobile money. A student in Kigali buys data and pays bills with a digital wallet. These actions show real money movement and real financial habits. But right now, this information is stuck in silos. It doesn’t travel where it’s needed to build credit or offer better financial products. And as long as data is stuck in silos, people stay invisible to the wider system. They get stuck in the informal economy and are unable to grow.
Imagine if that data could be shared securely and only with permission. Suddenly, that trader can get a small loan to grow their business because their savings prove they can pay it back. The taxi driver can get financing for a new car. The student can qualify for a savings plan or even a small credit line without jumping through endless hoops. That’s the power of open banking: turning data into opportunity.
It’s not just individuals who suffer. Fintechs and digital lenders burn through resources, recreating the same rails in every new market. Also, fintechs are not able to reuse code. If they need to integrate with 30 banks, that’s 30 different complex codes, each one a fresh pain to start with. Without shared infrastructure, each startup is forced to act like a mini-infrastructure company, building everything from scratch. That slows growth, raises costs, and fragments the ecosystem. No wonder scaling is almost impossible.
So what’s holding the rest of the continent back?
If I had to sum it up in one word, it’s execution. Africa doesn’t lack ideas, talent, or vision. We actually have plenty of all those things. But when it comes to getting things done, that’s where the wheels come off.
Look around. We’ve drafted policies, we’ve drawn detailed roadmaps, and we’ve launched some promising initiatives. Take PAPSS, the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, designed to make cross-border payments simple and cheap. Sounds impressive, right? Yet, when you check the actual usage numbers, it’s barely moving. Then there’s AfCFTA, the African Continental Free Trade Area, signed by nearly every country on the continent. It was supposed to unlock trade and boost economies, but in practice, it’s still trapped in red tape and customs delays. Progress feels stuck in place. This isn’t just about big projects. Even national ID programs and digital government services stall before they reach full impact. The problem isn’t a lack of ambition or ideas. The problem is that following through is tough.
Why? Because execution is hard. It’s repetitive. It’s unglamorous. It requires coordination, discipline, and above all, time. It means you’re still showing up to meetings three years later, still explaining to stakeholders why this matters, still debugging edge cases when the hype has worn off.
Execution also takes patience and stamina. It’s the ability to keep at it even when the buzz around a project dies down, when media stops covering it, and when stakeholders lose interest or faith. In Africa, political cycles and leadership changes do reset progress, making it even harder to see things through. Funding gaps, skills shortages, and infrastructure challenges pile on top.
But here’s the bottom line: no matter how brilliant the plan, if you don’t execute, it’s useless. Without execution, nothing scales. Nothing changes. And that is precisely why most African countries are still stuck talking about open banking instead of building it.
Nigeria’s messy, painful, miraculous journey
Most people don’t realize this, but open banking in Nigeria wasn’t something that came down from the top or was handed over by government officials in some quiet ministry office. It didn’t start with a grand announcement or a sudden government decree. Instead, it grew from the ground up, from the people who live and breathe fintech every day. It started from industry leaders, and, well, some would say championed by yours truly.
We saw the problem, felt the pain, got involved early, built something and refused to let the idea die.
Back in 2017, a group of us (now called Trustees) came together and launched the Open Technology Foundation, which later became Open Banking Nigeria. We didn’t just talk; we drafted the earliest technical standards, created frameworks, and began pulling the community together, slowly growing a movement.
Then came the hard part: convincing the Central Bank of Nigeria to take open banking seriously. We didn’t just approach them once or twice; we went back repeatedly, refining our proposals, answering tough questions, and pushing for concrete action. The CBN didn’t ignore us, and to their credit, they didn’t just listen politely. They got involved. Unlike in many countries where regulators keep their distance from industry efforts, the CBN rolled up their sleeves and collaborated with us closely. It wasn’t just talk; it was practical, hands-on work, sometimes frustrating and slow, but persistent.
Sure, the process has taken time. But it’s not because the CBN was idle or uninterested. They had to manage bigger crises: inflation surges, currency instability, and shocks from global economic events that threatened Nigeria’s financial system. You can’t focus on building new infrastructure when the entire economy is under threat. You don’t feed your child while the house is burning. You put out the fire first.
Now, with the economy stabilizing and attention turning back to innovation, open banking is no longer just a distant idea or policy on paper, but as an infrastructure that’s finally about to launch. This marks a critical turning point for Africa’s financial ecosystem. The promise of open banking is moving from vision to reality after years of hard, unglamorous work. Nigeria’s journey has been messy and painful, but it is also a sign of what is possible when the industry and regulator work together through thick and thin.
If it took Nigeria eight years, what hope is there for everyone else?
Here’s the reality. Nigeria’s journey with open banking is far from perfect. There have been countless delays, missed deadlines, bureaucratic troubles, and plenty of moments when progress seemed stuck or even reversed. The political instability, economic challenges, and sheer scale of Nigeria’s financial system make it one of the toughest places to get something like open banking off the ground. Yet, despite all the delays and detours, Nigeria has still managed to outpace every other country on the continent when it comes to building open banking infrastructure. And that should worry you.
If a country as complex and chaotic as Nigeria can make meaningful progress after nearly a decade of effort, then what does that say about the rest of Africa? It means they are not just behind in the race; in many cases, they are barely even on the track. Many countries remain stuck in endless policy discussions, with plenty of talk but little action. There are grand visions on paper, but few actual projects moving beyond pilot stages.
And that’s the real tragedy.
Because Africa has everything it needs to make open banking work. The talent pool is deep and growing every year. Fintech startups are sprouting up all over the continent, fueled by young entrepreneurs hungry to change the game. The demand for better financial services is massive, especially from populations underserved by traditional banks. What Africa lacks is not ideas or energy but the will to execute consistently and effectively. It is the discipline to push through the tedious, slow, and often frustrating work that building new infrastructure requires. The humility to copy what already works, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.. And above all, it is the courage to build systems from the ground up when none exist, even when it means facing tough political and economic realities head-on. Nigeria’s long, messy journey is a reminder that progress is possible, but only when the effort matches the ambition. The question now is whether the rest of the continent is ready to match that effort and move beyond talk into real, lasting change.
Africa doesn’t need another white paper. It needs a working API.
I’ll say it again: Africa desperately needs open banking. Let’s stop trying to impress donors. Let’s stop overengineering solutions. The best thing African regulators and fintech leaders can do is copy what’s already working.
Build the rails, set the rules, and let people build on top of it. Open banking isn’t about catching up to the UK or mimicking Europe. It’s about giving ordinary Africans access to tools that let them save, borrow, invest, and grow. It’s about moving from financial survival to financial progress.
So if you’re a policymaker, here’s your move: steal Nigeria’s homework. There’s no shame in learning from someone else’s sweat, because the alternative is another decade of panels and pilot programs. And we’ve already wasted enough time.