“Can a wholesale, DFI-backed on-lending model sustainably close Nigeria's MSME credit gap through commercial and microfinance banks?”
DBN is a wholesale development finance institution — it does not lend directly to MSMEs, nor does it operate retail deposit accounts, cards, or embedded finance products. Its 'customers' are Participating Financial Institutions (banks, microfinance banks) which then on-lend to MSMEs. Over the past three years DBN has extended its footprint beyond pure on-lending capital into MSME capacity building (BizAid, DBN Academy) and MSME data intelligence (DBN Data Assets), positioning itself as an ecosystem enabler rather than a fintech operator.
Development Bank of Nigeria Plc discloses Development Bank of Nigeria Plc (in-house) as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Development Bank of Nigeria Plc does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through Development Bank of Nigeria Plc (in-house).
Development Bank of Nigeria Plc's lending and capital products are provided by Development Bank of Nigeria Plc (in-house).
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 2 layers in Development Bank of Nigeria Plc's stack: Banking / BaaS (Development Bank of Nigeria Plc (in-house)); Lending (Development Bank of Nigeria Plc (in-house), Long-Term Finance Scheme (up to 10 years) to PFIs, On-lending facility to Participating Financial Institutions, Partial Credit Risk Guarantees to PFIs and 1 other).
Development Bank of Nigeria Plc is founded in 2014 and headquartered in Abuja, Nigeria.
Development Bank of Nigeria Plc has raised $70M (equity/capitalization reported) in total.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Development Bank of Nigeria Plc and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.