Smartcash PSB
“Can a telco-owned Payment Service Bank convert Airtel's Nigerian subscriber base into a mass-market digital deposit and payments franchise?”
Founded2022
HQLagos, Nigeria
IndustryFintech / Neobank
The story
Smartcash PSB is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Airtel Africa, launched in July 2022 after Airtel received a Payment Service Bank license from the Central Bank of Nigeria. The bank leverages Airtel's telco distribution network and Super-Agent license to push financial inclusion into rural and underbanked Nigerian markets, competing with MTN's MoMo PSB and 9PSB. As a PSB, it is restricted from lending — the mandate is deposits, payments, remittances, and card issuance only.
Last 12 months
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Product timeline
2022
Airtel Africa launches Smartcash PSB as a wholly-owned subsidiary after receiving CBN Payment Service Bank license.· banking
2022
Launches deposit-taking, payments, remittances, debit and prepaid card issuance for individuals and small businesses in Nigeria.· card
Regulated entities
2
regulatory licences held by Smartcash PSB
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
3 layers disclosed in Smartcash PSB’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Smartcash PSB (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
2 more providers across 2 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.