NOVA Bank
“Can a Nigerian merchant bank successfully reinvent itself as a phygital commercial bank serving retail, SME and corporate customers?”
Founded2018
HQVictoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria
IndustryBank / National
The story
Founded 2018 as NOVA Merchant Bank serving corporates and HNW individuals. Transitioned to a full-fledged Nigerian commercial bank in 2024 under 'Project Rocket', launching retail-facing rails (mobile app, debit cards, USSD *682#) under a 'Phygital' strategy. Now pushing into SME banking, POS acquiring, and regional expansion while meeting CBN's raised capital requirements.
Product timeline
2018
Founded as NOVA Merchant Bank, licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria· banking
2024
Transitioned from merchant bank to full-fledged commercial bank; launched mobile banking app, debit cards, and USSD platform (*682#)· pivot
2024
Achieved ISO 27032 Cybersecurity certification (already held ISO 27001 and BCMS 22301)· banking
2025
Opened regional office in Imo State to expand into South-East / South-South Nigeria· banking
2026
Appointed Jude Anele as MD/CEO; met CBN capital requirements; announced 8 new branches for 2026· banking
Regulated entities
2
regulatory licences held by NOVA Bank
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
7 layers disclosed in NOVA Bank’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
NOVA POS (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Card network
in the full report
Ledger
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Investing
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
9 more providers across 6 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.