Key Findings
- 1CBN's Open Banking framework activated production APIs in Jan 2026. NIBSS and Open Banking Nigeria data show which use cases are actually moving.
Overview
The Central Bank of Nigeria's Open Banking Operational Guidelines activated production APIs on 30 Jan 2026 (CBN Circular BSD/DIR/PUB/LAB/017/001).
"NIBSS reports 42m API calls in the first 90 days — 87% for account-information services and 13% for payment initiation (NIBSS Open Banking Dashboard, Apr 2026)."
57% of Sub-Saharan African adults remain unbanked — representing the world's largest financial inclusion opportunity.
Mobile-first fintech platforms are uniquely positioned to capture this 350M+ person market.
Why this matters now
Nigeria is the third African market with a live open-banking regime (after Kenya and SA-in-principle). NIBSS reports 42m API calls in the first 90 days — 87% for account-information services and 13% for payment initiation (NIBSS Open Banking Dashboard, Apr 2026).
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