Financial cards and payments continues to expand at a robust pace
Financial cards and payments in Nigeria performed positively in 2025, with total card circulation numbers and volume and current value transactions rising at healthy rates. The overall pace of expansion was tempered somewhat by relatively cautious attitudes to borrowing and spending among households and businesses as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) maintained high interest rates in an effort to curb inflation and stabilise the naira. Nonetheless, the use of debit cards, credit cards, pre-paid cards and non-card transaction methods increased steadily throughout the year thanks to further improvements in financial inclusion and literacy, heavy investment in physical and digital infrastructure and the frequent development of new products and services by traditional banks, fintechs and network operators. Cash continued to dominate the payments landscape, however, reflecting the large size of the country’s informal economy.
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Overview:
Understand the latest market trends and future growth opportunities for the Financial Cards and Payments industry in Nigeria with research from Euromonitor International's team of in-country analysts – experts by industry and geographic specialisation.
Key trends are clearly and succinctly summarised alongside the most current research data available. Understand and assess competitive threats and plan corporate strategy with our qualitative analysis, insight and confident growth projections.
If you're in the Financial Cards and Payments industry in Nigeria, our research will help you to make informed, intelligent decisions; to recognise and profit from opportunity, or to offer resilience amidst market uncertainty.
The Financial Cards and Payments in Nigeria report includes:
- Analysis of key supply-side and demand trends
- Detailed segmentation of international and local products
- Historic volume and value sizes, company and brand market shares
- Five year forecasts of market trends and market growth
- Robust and transparent research methodology, conducted in-country
This report answers:
- What is the market size of Financial Cards and Payments in Nigeria?
- What are the major trends key to understanding Financial Cards and Payments in Nigeria?
- How has COVID-19, recession and macroeconomic volatility impacted the market?
- How long will the market take to recover? What are the opportunities now?
- How will political context and shifting cultural values shape future growth?
- Where is future growth expected to be most dynamic?
Financial Cards and Payments in Nigeria - Industry Overview
Financial cards and payments continues to expand at a robust pace
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Policy changes boost financial inclusion and adoption of cashless payments
Innovation helps to maintain strong interest in debit, credit and pre-paid cards
Credit cards face growing competition from BNPL services
Improvements in financial inclusion will continue to underpin growth
Traditional banks remain dominant despite increasing challenge from fintechs
COUNTRY REPORTS DISCLAIMER
Credit Cards in Nigeria - Category analysis
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Credit cards shows improved performance in 2025
Issuers launch new products targeted at specific demographics
Growing popularity of BNPL services poses challenges and opportunities
Economic improvements and interest rate cuts expected to boost credit card use
Naira-denominated cards set to regain ground
Competitive threat from digital lending likely to intensify
Leading banks continue to dominate credit cards
Debit Cards in Nigeria - Category analysis
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Growth in circulation numbers and transactions remains healthy despite slowdown
Improvements in financial inclusion and policy changes boost debit card usage
Competition intensifies as digitalisation trend gains momentum
Solid growth in card numbers and transactions projected
More operators expected to partner with fintech firms
Wider adoption of electronic instant payments could temper usage levels
Zenith Bank remains the top issuer in terms of circulation numbers
Pre-Paid Cards in Nigeria - Category analysis
KEY DATA FINDINGS
Pre-paid cards continue to promote and profit from rising financial inclusion
Innovation and regulatory reforms buoy demand
Fintechs drive evolution of pre-paid card functionality
Outlook for pre-paid cards remains bright
Closed loop category set to benefit from heavy investment in mass transit systems
Rising penetration of BNPL services could weaken appeal of open loop products
Pre-paid cards still characterised by high level of consolidation
COUNTRY REPORTS DISCLAIMER
The following categories and subcategories are included:
Financial Cards and Payments
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- ATM Cards
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- Commercial Charge Cards
- Personal Charge Cards
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- Commercial Credit Cards
- Personal Credit Cards
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- Commercial Debit Cards
- Personal Debit Cards
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- Closed Loop Pre-Paid Cards
- Open Loop Pre-Paid Cards
- Store Cards
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- ATM Transactions
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- Commercial Charge Card Transactions
- Personal Charge Card Transactions
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- Commercial Credit Card Transactions
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- Average Personal Credit Card Balance
- Average Personal Credit Card Limit
- Personal Credit Card Utilisation
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- Commercial Debit Card Transactions
- Personal Debit Card Transactions
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- Closed Loop Pre-Paid Card Transactions
- Open Loop Pre-Paid Card Transactions
- Store Card Transactions
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- Commercial Card Payment Transactions
- Commercial Electronic Direct/ACH Transactions
- Commercial Paper Payment Transactions
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- Personal Card Payment Transactions
- Personal Electronic Direct/ACH Transactions
- Personal Paper Payment Transactions
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- Commercial Electronic Direct/ACH Transactions
- Personal Electronic Direct/ACH Transactions
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- Commercial Cash Transactions
- Commercial Other Paper Transactions
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- Personal Cash Transactions
- Personal Other Paper Transactions
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- Mobile Proximity Payments
- Mobile Remote Payments
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Financial Cards and Payments
Payments are tracked based on the country of residence / account issuance and include outbound spend while excluding inbound spend.
See all of our definitionsWhy buy this report?
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This report originates from Passport, our Financial Cards and Payments research and analysis database.
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