“Can Nigeria's largest independent insurer become a full-stack, digital-first non-banking financial services group?”
Founded 1970 as a Nigerian insurance underwriter, Leadway has evolved into one of Nigeria's largest non-banking financial services groups. Under Leadway Holdings, it now spans life and non-life insurance (Leadway Assurance), pensions (Leadway Pensure), HMO (Leadway Health), asset management, and wills & trusts. The group is a Nigerian-market player rather than an embedded-finance infrastructure vendor — its digital footprint centers on premium payment channels, an insurer-run policy API, and NAICOM/NDPA compliance rather than BaaS, card issuing, or lending infrastructure.
Leadway processes payments through Paystack.
Leadway's lending and capital products are provided by Leadway Assurance (in-house).
Leadway's embedded insurance is provided by Leadway Assurance (in-house), Leadway Health (in-house) and Leadway Pensure (in-house).
Leadway's investing and wealth products are powered by Leadway Pensure (in-house) and Leadway Asset Management (in-house).
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 4 layers in Leadway's stack: Payments / PSP (Paystack); Lending (Leadway Assurance (in-house) and Life policy loan (lifeLoan API: applyForLoan, viewLoan, loanInformation, generateLoanSchedule)); Insurance (Leadway Assurance (in-house), Leadway Health (in-house) and Leadway Pensure (in-house)); Investing (Leadway Pensure (in-house) and Leadway Asset Management (in-house)).
Leadway is founded in 1970 and headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Leadway 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.