Tag: Kuda

Kuda has updated its business banking services to allow NGOs and incorporated trustees to open and manage business accounts entirely online. The move means religious organisations, charities, and other registered organisations no longer have to navigate the long wait and paperwork traditionally associated with setting up a business account.

On the Kuda Business app, organisations registered with Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) can choose the NGO option during signup, submit their CAC documents, and provide trustee details. Once verified, accounts are activated within minutes, a significant reduction from the days or weeks it can take under traditional business banking processes.

For many NGOs and religious institutions, handling donations, grants, and operational expenses has long been slowed by manual systems and branch-based requirements. The Kuda Business update is expected to make financial management faster and more transparent, allowing organisations to focus on their mission instead of battling administrative bottlenecks.

Nigeria is home to thousands of registered NGOs and religious organisations, with Lagos State alone accounting for over 10,000 churches and mosques as of the last count in 2021. Across the country, incorporated trustees play a critical role in education, healthcare, humanitarian response and community development. Despite their scale and economic relevance, access to modern digital banking tools has remained limited for many of these institutions.

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Nosa Oyegun, SVP Business Banking at Kuda, said the update is proof of Kuda’s focus on removing structural barriers that slow Nigerian organisations down. “NGOs and religious organisations are responsible for managing funds that directly impact communities, yet they are often forced to operate with outdated banking processes,” he said. “By enabling incorporated trustees to open Kuda Business accounts entirely online quickly, we’re giving these organisations access to the same modern financial tools built by Kuda that other businesses already use, so they spend less time doing admin work.”

With Kuda Business, NGOs and religious organisations can manage incoming donations and grants, make payments, track transactions in real time, generate professional account statements for audits and reporting, and grant controlled access to trustees, treasurers and administrators, all on a single app.

Kuda designed the account signup process to meet regulatory requirements while significantly reducing manual reviews and customer support workload. Automations shorten notoriously long business signup timelines while improving information accuracy and user experience.

As reforms promoting cashless payments and digital financial services take hold in Nigeria, NGOs and religious organisations are under increasing pressure from donors, partners and regulators to operate with greater financial transparency and efficiency. The new Kuda Business update is therefore timely, offering a dedicated digital account specifically designed for this segment, unlike many traditional banks and fintech platforms that treat incorporated trustees as special cases requiring comparatively slower manual intervention

The Managing Director, Kuda Microfinance Bank, Musty Mustapha, has called for enhanced cybersecurity measures to protect consumers and sustain fintech growth.

He said the fintech revolution has transformed financial access, but it comes with a rising threat of cybercrime.

According to the Oxford University World Cybercrime Index 2024, Nigeria ranks fifth globally for cyber-related crimes, posing a significant risk to the digital financial ecosystem. In a lecture at the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Mustapha said insider threats among others, were undermining digital payment space in the country, adding that enhanced cybersecurity measures will not only protect consumers but it will sustain fintech growth.

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 “Cyber fraud, phishing attacks, and insider threats are undermining trust in digital payments. We need industry-wide security standards to safeguard Nigeria’s fintech ecosystem,” Mustapha warned. He emphasised the importance of multi-factor authentication, real-time fraud detection, and regular security audits across all fintech platforms.

To combat cyber threats, Mustapha proposed collaboration between fintech firms, traditional banks, and global cybersecurity agencies to share threat intelligence. He also recommended launching nationwide awareness campaigns to educate consumers on fraud prevention while incentivising fintechs that prioritise security innovations.

With over 64per cent of Nigeria’s population financially included, digital finance is now a major driver of economic growth. However, as fintech adoption surges, ensuring robust security frameworks will be key to maintaining consumer confidence and unlocking further investments in the sector.

Kuda has partnered with SeerBit, a payment gateway, to give Kuda’s over 7 million customers a safe and easy option for making cardless payments online.

The Nigerian fintech’s retail customers can now look out for the ‘Pay With SeerBit’ option on local websites and apps, then pay directly from their Kuda account with their secure Kuda Pay ID – a one-time code generated on their Kuda app.

The quick and safe payment option removes the need for typing in debit card details when making online payments.

Online fraud remains a significant concern in the digital payment landscape.

According to the 2023 Annual Fraud Landscape report by the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), N17.67bn was lost to fraud in 2023 which was a 23per cent increase compared to the amount lost in 2022. Kuda’s partnership with SeerBit is a proactive step towards mitigating these risks.

By authorising online payments with their Kuda Pay ID through SeerBit, Kuda customers can be confident that their financial information is protected, thereby reducing the likelihood of fraud and unauthorised transactions.

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Speaking about the partnership, Musty Mustapha, Managing Director of Kuda Microfinance Bank, said, “Our partnership with SeerBit underscores our commitment to providing secure and user-friendly financial services. With their Kuda Pay ID, our customers can make online payments without the fear of exposing their debit card details, ensuring peace of mind in every transaction.”

With over 7 million customers, Kuda Microfinance Bank is the Nigerian subsidiary of Kuda Technologies, a fintech company on a mission to make financial services accessible, affordable and rewarding for all Africans on the planet.

SeerBit is a leading payment infrastructure provider, offering comprehensive payment solutions that enable businesses to thrive in the digital economy.

Through this partnership, Kuda is reinforcing its commitment to providing secure and innovative financial services that address the evolving needs of its customers.

Managing Director, Kuda Microfinance Bank (MfB), Musty Mustapha, has emphasised the need for upskilling in response to the swift rise of advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, automation, and blockchain.

In his keynote at Africa Fintech Foundry Ecosystem Roundtable 5.0, he said technology keeps evolving necessitating  the need for upskilling.

The World Economic Forum predicts that by next year, half of employees globally will need to learn new skills or enhance existing ones to keep pace with these advancements. Goldman Sachs warns of AI potentially replacing hundreds of millions of jobs, while a report by the McKinsey Global Institute projects that by 2030, approximately 14 per cent of workers worldwide may need to consider changing careers due to the impact of digitisation, robotics, and advancements in AI. According to Mustapha, this underscores the importance of learning new skills or enhancing existing ones to keep pace with technological advancements.

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On the need for continuous learning, Mustapha said: “Continuous learning is a must at this time, and we have no excuse because knowledge is more accessible than it has ever been. We can learn anything we want online. From YouTube to learning platforms like Coursera, edX, Udemy, and LinkedIn Learning, resources that can help us get better at what we do are at our disposal, oftentimes at no cost.”