How Verve is redefining digital payments to unlock cross-border opportunities

Africa’s pioneering and largest domestic payment cards scheme sees new growth trajectory on the back of strategic partnerships with emerging fintechs and challenger banks in the continent’s largest consumer economy. In this report, Angela Omokuajo looks at the development.

Several fintech companies in Nigeria are leveraging Verve cards, Africa’s largest domestic payment scheme, to expand their reach and offer convenient payment solutions to their customers.

Outside the traditional commercial banking sector, where Verve had been observed to have gained significant foothold earlier, notable fintech/neobank players such as OPay, PalmPay, Moniepoint and Carbon are among those actively issuing Verve cards. This trend reflects a growing preference for locally sourced payment cards, driven by factors like ease of use and cost-effectiveness.

Verve International, as Interswitch Group subsidiary, has grown remarkably over the last 15 years to become a prominent payment card scheme in Nigeria and across Africa. It has witnessed significant scale in recent years, with a strong focus on providing secure and convenient payment solutions for both online and offline transactions.

Over the last 2 years, several fintech companies have been seen actively partnering with Verve to issue cards to their users. For example, OPay and Moniepoint have collectively issued millions of Verve cards, while Carbon was reported to have ditched its international card issuing scheme, altogether halting the issuance of debit cards for months, before resuming with an announcement of its partnership with Verve.

Also, amidst considerable media blitz, PalmPay, an emergent digital bank widely renowned as one of the largest agency banking pioneers in the country, recently launched Verve debit cards, emphasizing their commitment to inclusive and locally relevant digital banking solutions. They believe that cards remain a crucial access point for reaching all segments of the Nigerian population, including those in areas with limited internet access or those who prefer the flexibility of cards.

This trend towards Verve cards reflects a growing preference for locally issued payment cards, especially among fintechs and banks, as it has been widely touted as driving cost savings for financial service providers seeking better cost-efficiencies and better alignment with the needs of the Nigerian market.

Verve cards come in various forms, including prepaid, debit, and contactless options. They offer features like chip + PIN security and are accepted across various payment channels in Nigeria, and increasingly, globally. Verve also has a virtual card option called Verve eCash, which is available within Interswitch’s Quickteller application, for secure online transactions.

While Verve is primarily known for its dominance in Nigeria, it has also expanded its global reach through partnerships like the one with Discover Financial Services. This potentially allows Verve cards to be used in over 185 countries.

PalmPay’s recent debit card strategic partnership with Verve continues the wave of Nigerian fintechs partnering with local card schemes due to rising costs for international card providers and reduced customer spending.

According to sighted industry data as of early 2024, Opay and Moniepoint had both issued about 17 million Verve cards post-pandemic. In March of this year, Carbon, another digital challenger bank in Nigeria known for its loans-led approach to banking, recently partnered with Verve to resume issuing debit cards nine months after pausing card operations when it effectively ditched an international card scheme it had earlier partnered with for card issuance.

The growing spate of domestic debit card partnerships come at a time when much of Nigeria’s fintech ecosystem is increasingly leaning towards bank transfers. For instance, HabariPay, the fintech subsidiary of one of Nigeria’s biggest banks, indicated it is betting its future on increased transfers. Paystack also recently launched Zap by Paystack, its first consumer app, on that promise of increased transfer volumes. It would be recalled that in May 2024, Paystack also published an insight-laden report which indicated that based on transaction data from their platform, bank transfers represented 58% of transactions in Nigeria in 2023, up from 28% reported in 2022, whilst Card payments accounted for 36% of Paystack transactions in 2023.

Despite the surge in bank transfers, players like PalmPay and Moniepoint believe cards would nonetheless continue to serve a crucial segment of Nigerian consumers.

Industry analysts note that the growing proclivity of these disruptor fintech companies to adopt Verve stems from the card scheme’s wide network reach and robust payment infrastructure across Nigeria and beyond. Marking 15 years of operations in 2023, Verve has grown to become arguably Nigeria’s most used payment card brand, with official data last seen from company sources putting its total number of issued cards as over 70 million, as of October 2024, solidifying its position as a dominant player in Nigeria’s payment ecosystem. With its impressive market penetration, Verve appears to remain a natural choice for fintech platforms aiming to expand their digital payment offerings while aligning with the CBN’s financial inclusion objectives.

Verve has consistently enhanced its service offerings to compete with international payment networks, integrating advanced features such as contactless payment technology and sophisticated security measures, including biometric authentication through fingerprint recognition.

By fostering such collaborations, Nigeria moves closer to achieving a more inclusive financial landscape, ensuring that Nigerians gain access to modern banking and payment services through the innovative solutions provided by these financial service providers.

Verve’s expanding global network is bolstered by partnerships with renowned global platforms such as Google, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Facebook, Uber, Spotify, Microsoft, Ali Express and Temu among others, enabling cardholders to conveniently pay for subscriptions in Naira. These alliances solidify Verve’s position as a trusted leader in the digital payments space, ensuring that consumers can access top-notch services across diverse industries.

These global partnerships, most recently with AliExpress and Temu, highlight Verve’s commitment to redefining digital payments and enhancing the consumer experience, empowering cardholders to seize cross-border opportunities, fostering greater financial inclusion and supporting economic growth.

The space remains a very interesting one to watch closely, as new entrants make their incursion into the African domestic payment card schemes landscape, increasing the already heated competition whilst also trying to hold their own in a market where instant transfers are increasingly gaining foothold.