👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – Billion Naira Fines Hit Moniepoint, OPay

Fintech

Nigeria CBN fines Opay, Moniepoint $634,000 each

Years after experimenting with food delivery in African markets and competing with the likes of Jumia Food and Uber Eats, Bolt, the uber-popular ride-hailing company, is now bringing its grocery delivery service to Africa. Specifically, Bolt Market, its grocery delivery service, will be exclusively available to Kenyans.

Customers in Kenya can place their grocery orders online through the Bolt Food app at least 24 hours before the expected delivery time. A merchant processes the orders, and Bolt couriers pick them up and deliver them to customers.

The ride-hailing company claims that grocery orders are taken from shelves directly to customers’ doorsteps within 30 minutes—which is half the time that other grocery delivery competitors, Glovo and large-chain supermarket Carrefour, say they deliver. Bolt will also offer an 80% discount and free delivery for customer deliveries within 3 kilometres (km) distance.

Bolt Market’s expansion into grocery delivery in Africa comes after struggles with food delivery in other regional markets. In 2023, Bolt Food, its food delivery service, exited Nigeria due to macroeconomic challenges. However, Bolt Food has remained active in Kenya and Ghana, where user adoption and logistics efficiency have shown more promise.

The Kenyan market, in particular, presents opportunities for Bolt Market. Online grocery delivery is growing rapidly, with the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) projecting that 16.7% of the population—10.5 million people—will shop for groceries online by 2027. Yet, Bolt will face stiff competition. Glovo, which dominates Kenya’s online grocery delivery market, already offers grocery services alongside other essentials, while retailers like Carrefour leverage their wide inventory.

Bolt Market’s success will hinge on competitive pricing, delivery speed—which it is already optimising for—and customer experience. Its free delivery strategy gives it an edge, but sustaining this advantage against Glovo’s entrenched presence will be a challenge.

Bolt may be a king in the ride-hailing market, but it is only an upstart in grocery delivery when compared to the likes of Glovo in the African context. Its first difficult task is to claw market share away from the big players.

Access Bank UK, the subsidiary of Nigeria’s Access Bank Group which operates in 22 countries, has expanded into Malta through a fully-owned establishment. The bank’s licence application was approved on Tuesday by both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).

This is Access Bank UK’s third market expansion in the last two months, following Hong Kong and Mauritius, but only its second presence in Europe. In November, the UK bank acquired majority shares in Afrasia Bank, the fourth-largest bank in Mauritius with $5.7 billion in total assets. 

Access Bank UK holds a commercial banking licence but focuses on providing corporate, commercial, and private banking services. Its operations focus on trade finance, business banking, treasury services, and private wealth management, catering to individuals involved in international trade, especially between Africa and the UK.

While it does not operate a high-street retail bank like other UK-based commercial banks—like Barclays and HSBC—it plays a role in facilitating cross-border banking.

This is why the expansion into Malta makes sense. Access Bank wants to be a corporate banking service provider for Maltese companies that are investing in Africa. Access Bank has an advantage with its large presence in multiple African markets like Kenya, Ghana, and Rwanda—all countries where Maltese businesses are setting their sights on.

With its recent acquisition of Standard Chartered subsidiaries in Sierra Leone and Angola in November, Access Bank, the M&A machine, is growing its deep-rooted influence in Africa to facilitate trade between Europe and Africa. With this plan, Access Bank’s next target will likely be in North Africa, as it moves further to bridge the trade finance gap between both continents.

It could also be another option for Access Bank to diversify its earnings beyond the volatile operating markets in Africa.

Nigeria’s biggest banks have earned record profits this year thanks to FX gains from the naira devaluation and net interest income from the Central Bank’s continuous interest rates hikes.

Since the year began Nigeria’s central bank has raised interest rates six consecutive times, with the latest hike pushing interest rates to 27.5%. The country’s four largest banks all reported that net interest income had more than doubled as a result of those hikes. Guaranty Trust Holding Co., Nigeria’s biggest bank by market value, for instance posted its biggest first-half profit as income from loans soared on the back of record interest rates. GTBank and other Nigerian banks have also reported record profits bolstered by FX gains. 

So it’s no surprise they’re paying huge dividends to shareholders. Yesterday, Nairametrics reported that Nigeria’s five biggest banks—Guaranty Trust Holding Co., Access Bank Group, Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, and FBN Holdings Plc—paid dividends of ₦145.221 billion ($92 million) to its shareholders in the first half of the year. Those banks paid a combined amount of ₦58.177 billion ($37 million) in the same period last year. A retail investor who bought 1,000 shares of GTCO at the beginning of the year for ₦40.50 ($0.026) per share would have seen their investment grow to ₦53,200 ($34) by December 6, representing a 31.4% return. 

Pension funds, insurance companies, and other institutional investors that hold significant deposits in these banks were the biggest winners. 

The higher dividend payouts have attracted more investors to these Nigerian banks’ stocks. As of December 6, 2024, their combined market capitalisation stood at ₦5.9 trillion ($3.76 billion).

Coin Name	Current Value	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$97,340	+ 0.87%	+ 19.55%
Ether	$3,667	– 0.08%	+ 15.60%
Magic Eden	$5.49	– 51.45%	– 51.45%
Solana	$218.35	+ 1.59%	+ 5.23%

• Business owners, do you want to export worldwide and grow faster? Make more money effortlessly? 

Ojah by Payshiga invites you to an exclusive webinar on December 12 at 4 PM WAT. Discover how their new product can streamline cross-border trade, reduce transaction costs, and unlock global growth opportunities. Don’t miss out on this chance to go global with ease. Register now and attend online.

• Applications are open for the Lead(H)er Fellowship 2025 (Cohort 4) for young African women. The 5-month program supports women aged 25 and below from Eastern, Southern Africa, and the Middle East, focusing on leadership in Politics, Business, and Peace and Security. Apply by December 20.
• Applications are open for the CcHub-Mastercard Foundation Edtech Fellowship 2025 (Cohort III). This program offers African edtech startups $100,000 in equity-free funding, expert mentorship, and access to an investor network. Eligible startups must focus on education solutions in areas like K-12, tertiary education, or vocational training, with verifiable users. Female founders are encouraged to apply. Don’t miss this chance to scale your edtech solution and transform education in Africa. Apply by January 31, 2025.
• Triggerfish and UNESCO are offering free training and mentorship for African women in animation through the Creator Labs program. Sessions run online from March to May 2025. Apply by February 5, 2025.