Nomba, the fast-growing Nigerian fintech, has joined forces with Globus Bank to lend \u20a621.3 billion to small and medium-sized businesses over the past 18 months, and the results are remarkably clean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The partnership delivered more than \u20a621 billion in credit to merchants and SMEs with a non-performing loan rate of under 1%, a figure that stands out sharply in Nigeria\u2019s lending market where default rates on SME loans often run much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead of relying on traditional collateral or lengthy paperwork, Nomba used its own payment platform data to assess creditworthiness. By tracking real-time sales, cash flow patterns, and daily transactions of businesses already using its services, the fintech could make faster and smarter lending decisions. Globus Bank provided the regulatory licence and balance sheet to fund the loans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The money went to businesses operating in wholesale and retail trade, restaurants, professional services, oil and gas, and fast-moving consumer goods. Many of these SMEs generate steady daily revenue through digital payments but often struggle to access working capital from conventional banks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This low default rate suggests that combining fintech visibility with banking infrastructure can reduce risk in Nigeria\u2019s largely informal economy. Nomba and Globus are now planning to scale the programme significantly, aiming for a \u20a6500 billion loan book by bringing in more banks and development finance institutions as funding partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Nomba, the move marks another step in its evolution from a payments company into a broader financial services player. The company, which rebranded from Kudi a few years ago, has been steadily expanding its offerings to include credit and other services for African businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Globus Bank, licensed in 2019, benefits by reaching a segment of the market that many bigger banks find costly or difficult to serve. The partnership allows the bank to grow its SME lending portfolio while keeping risk well under control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The announcement comes as access to credit remains one of the biggest challenges for small businesses in Nigeria. Many SMEs are shut out of traditional banking because they lack formal financial statements or assets to pledge as collateral. Data-driven lending models like Nomba\u2019s offer a potential workaround by using actual business behaviour rather than paperwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, scaling from \u20a621 billion to \u20a6500 billion will not be easy. Maintaining such a low default rate across a much larger portfolio, especially during periods of economic pressure like inflation or naira volatility, will test the strength of the underwriting system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, the early results are encouraging. In a country where SME financing has long been considered high-risk, a sub-1% default rate on over \u20a621 billion in loans is a notable achievement. It shows that thoughtful collaboration between fintechs and banks can unlock working capital for thousands of businesses that need it most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The partnership is still in its early days, but if Nomba and Globus can successfully scale while keeping defaults low, it could become a model for other players in Nigeria\u2019s fintech and banking sectors. For now, it stands as a practical example of how technology and traditional banking can work together to support the backbone of the Nigerian economy.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nomba, the fast-growing Nigerian fintech, has joined forces with Globus Bank to lend \u20a621.3 billion to small and medium-sized businesses over the past 18 months, and the results are remarkably clean. The partnership delivered more than \u20a621 billion in credit to merchants and SMEs with a non-performing loan rate of under 1%, a figure that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31579,"featured_media":9950,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[643,1897,1719],"ppma_author":[452],"class_list":{"0":"post-9943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-money-finance","8":"tag-fintech","9":"tag-globus-bank","10":"tag-nomba"},"authors":[{"term_id":452,"user_id":31579,"is_guest":0,"slug":"estherspeaks","display_name":"Esther Speaks","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cdcaf0f94087bbfcad372d974a1a697382dc93112457104ff6535cf4984ea4de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/villpress.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/villpress.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/villpress.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villpress.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villpress.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9943"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/villpress.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9946,"href":"https:\/\/villpress.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9943\/revisions\/9946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villpress.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/villpress.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villpress.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villpress.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9943"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villpress.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=9943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}