MoMo Payment Service Bank (MoMo PSB), the fintech subsidiary of MTN Nigeria, has appointed Bode Abifarin as its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, effective September 1, 2026. Abifarin returns to a senior operating role in Nigeria’s fintech sector after serving as Chief Operating Officer of Flutterwave, where she was involved in scaling the company across multiple markets. She brings more than 23 years of experience spanning financial services, digital payments, fintech, consulting, strategy, operations and business transformation.
The appointment comes at an important point for MoMo PSB. MTN Nigeria is restructuring ownership of its fintech businesses while trying to expand the scale and commercial performance of its digital financial services operations.
Abifarin spent about 15 years at KPMG, rising to Associate Director in Management Consulting and advising organisations across Africa on strategy, transformation, customer experience and business growth. She subsequently joined Flutterwave in 2018 and became its COO, helping oversee day to day operations as the payments company expanded.
Flutterwave confirmed her departure in 2024, describing her as a key part of the company’s operational growth. After leaving Flutterwave, Abifarin founded Strata Advisory, a technology focused advisory firm working with businesses on scaling and sustainable growth.
Her experience is particularly relevant to MoMo PSB because the company’s next stage will require more than simply increasing its customer base. It will need to expand usage, improve the customer experience, strengthen operations and compete in one of Africa’s most active digital payments markets.
Abifarin’s appointment follows a period of restructuring within MTN Nigeria’s fintech operations. In April 2026, MTN Nigeria announced plans to transfer a 60% stake in MoMo PSB and Y’ello Digital Financial Services to MTN Group in a transaction valued at about ₦152.06 billion, with MTN Nigeria retaining a 40% interest.
The transaction remains subject to the required regulatory and legal processes, with completion targeted by the end of 2026. The proposed restructuring is part of MTN’s broader effort to separate its fintech operations from the Nigerian telecoms business and give the financial services businesses access to capital and support from MTN Group.
That context gives Abifarin’s appointment added significance. She is taking charge of MoMo PSB while the business is being repositioned within MTN’s wider fintech strategy.
MoMo’s opportunity is substantial, but so is the competitive pressure. MTN Nigeria reported that its fintech revenue grew 79.7% in 2025 to ₦191.3 billion, while active MoMo wallets reached 3.7 million by December 2025.
The company attributed the growth partly to higher interest income from deposits, expansion of advanced services and efforts to deepen penetration through agents and merchants. MTN’s own reporting has nevertheless highlighted the need to improve the performance of its Nigerian fintech operations.
The group has said its focus includes growing wallets and transaction volumes, expanding advanced services and developing payment use cases that encourage customers to use the wallet more frequently. This means Abifarin’s mandate is likely to extend beyond customer acquisition, as the company needs to convert its distribution reach into deeper and more regular financial activity.
MoMo PSB operates under Nigeria’s Payment Service Bank framework, which was established to expand access to formal financial services, particularly for underserved populations. In announcing the appointment, Abifarin said financial inclusion remains a major opportunity for economic empowerment and that she intends to work with MoMo employees, regulators, partners and other stakeholders to expand access to secure and customer focused financial solutions.
Her appointment also reflects the increasingly blurred boundary between traditional telecommunications companies and financial technology businesses in Africa. MTN has built its MoMo business into a major part of its digital services strategy, while fintech companies such as Flutterwave, OPay and Moniepoint continue to compete for payments and financial services customers in Nigeria.
For MoMo PSB, the challenge is to turn MTN’s enormous distribution and customer ecosystem into a stronger financial services platform.
As CEO, Abifarin is expected to focus on expanding digital financial services, deepening financial inclusion, driving innovation and improving customer value. MTN Group Fintech CEO Serigne Dioum said her experience in fintech, operational transformation and financial inclusion positions her to lead MoMo PSB through its next stage of growth.
The more immediate test will be execution. MoMo PSB will need to increase active usage, develop products that customers return to regularly and compete effectively against established banks, payment companies and other fintech platforms.
At the same time, the business must navigate regulatory requirements and the ownership transition taking place within MTN’s fintech portfolio. Abifarin will officially assume the role on September 1, placing an experienced fintech operator at the centre of MTN Nigeria’s effort to build a larger and more commercially sustainable digital financial services business.
