Grace Ashiru
Paystack has made its entry into Nigeria’s banking industry through the acquisition of Ladder Microfinance Bank, representing a significant strategic expansion from payment processing into deposit-taking and lending operations.
The rebranded Paystack Microfinance Bank (Paystack MFB) will function as a separate entity running parallel to Paystack’s existing payments infrastructure, positioning the fintech to provide loans, deposit accounts, and banking-as-a-service solutions while operating within microfinance regulatory frameworks.
Chief Operating Officer Amandine Lobelle indicated that Paystack MFB will prioritize business lending in its initial phase before broadening into consumer banking services.
This acquisition provides Paystack with enhanced oversight of settlement operations following ten years of payment processing for more than 300,000 Nigerian businesses, creating opportunities to cross-sell higher-margin banking services and extend credit using real-time transaction intelligence.
