OPay’s Regulatory Fines Reach 994 Million Naira From 2023 to 2025 as New York IPO Stalls

Key Facts

OPay disclosed about 994 million naira in regulatory fines from 2023 to 2025, according to a report by The Day newspaper based on the company’s accounts. The penalties covered violations of multiple rules and involved the Central Bank of Nigeria and three other regulators, the report said. The disclosure comes as the company’s planned initial public offering in New York stalls, after it decided on October 30, 2026, not to proceed. OPay said in a notice filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the decision followed a regulatory inquiry in an unnamed state, which it described as having no impact on its business operations. The company’s notice did not link that inquiry to the fines it incurred in Nigeria in previous years.

Details of the penalties show violations ranging from anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing to customer due diligence, consumer protection and data, as well as advertising and corporate rules. In 2023, OPay paid a fine of 26 million naira to the Central Bank of Nigeria for violations related to money laundering and terrorism financing, according to The Day. In 2024, the report listed a fine of 113.7 million naira for repeated violations in the same area, along with 197 million naira under the Financial Institutions and Banks Act. The list also included 10 million naira for shortcomings in customer due diligence and 2 million naira under consumer protection rules. The data protection fine was 125 million naira, while the penalties included 7 million naira from the Advertising Regulatory Council and 1 million naira from the Corporate Affairs Commission.

In 2025, the company paid 464 million naira to the Central Bank for violating Nigeria’s 2021 Mobile Money Services Framework, the report said. That fine was the largest specified annual amount in the penalty details for the period, following the multiple fines listed for 2024. These items place the compliance violations across more than one regulatory area, from financial services to data protection, advertising and company law. The published figures were a cumulative total of fines for 2023–2025, not a single new penalty imposed when the report was published. They show the disclosure spanning three years, with regulatory responsibility spread across the Central Bank and three other agencies.

OPay said in its notice filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on October 30, 2026, that it would not proceed with its previously announced initial public offering. The company and the underwriters agreed to terminate the underwriting agreement dated October 29, 2026, according to the notice. The company added that its American depositary shares would not begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the previously scheduled date. The proposed offering was for 16 million American depositary shares, within an initial price range of $19 to $21 per share, according to the prospectus filed with the commission. The proposed offering was therefore not completed, and the company did not receive its planned proceeds.

The listing halt came as the company reported growth in revenue and net income in the first half of 2026, according to its prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Revenue rose to $467.1 million in the six months ended June 30, 2026, from $197.5 million in the same period of 2025. The company said the increase was mainly driven by higher loan financing revenue and transaction-based services. Net income was $90.9 million in the first half of 2026, compared with $21.7 million in the same period a year earlier. The figures reflect the company’s financial performance before its decision not to proceed with the offering in October.

Platform usage metrics also rose in the same period, with monthly active users reaching 47.5 million in the six months ended June 30, 2026, compared with 31.1 million in the corresponding period of 2025. Total transactions on the platform also increased to 53.5 billion in the first half of 2026 from 25.7 billion a year earlier. On loan quality, the company said its non-performing loan ratio fell to 4.3% on June 30, 2026, from 4.8% on the same date in 2025. It partly attributed the decline in the ratio during the first half of 2026 to tighter risk acceptance for consumer loans and a shift toward merchant loans. The metrics offer a picture of expanding activity alongside ongoing compliance issues and regulatory pressures.

On subsequent developments, the Nigerian National Assembly Library Trust Fund said on November 12, 2026, that the House of Representatives had moved to seek federal intervention over the halt to OPay’s New York Stock Exchange listing. The move called for engagement with stakeholders and federal authorities, according to the report published on the fund’s website. The company’s prospectus also states that its board and shareholders approved pursuing a listing on the Nigerian Exchange after completing the New York listing. That path remains subject to market conditions and Nigerian regulatory approvals, according to the prospectus. It follows the halt to the New York process, which was supposed to precede the local listing.