Nigeria’s digital payments system processed more than ₦1,000 trillion in instant transactions in 2025, according to figures discussed at the recent RegTech Africa Conference in Abuja, underlining how rapidly the country’s financial system is changing.

A decade ago, many Nigerians relied heavily on cash transactions and long queues in bank halls. Today, millions move money daily through mobile apps, digital wallets, and instant transfer platforms, often within seconds.

The conference, organised in partnership with the Presidential Committee on Economic and Financial Inclusion (PreCEFI), brought together regulators, fintech operators, development partners, and policymakers to discuss how technology can improve financial regulation and expand access to digital finance.

Much of the conversation centred on RegTech, short for regulatory technology. In simple terms, it involves the use of tools such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning, and digital identity systems to help regulators monitor transactions, improve compliance, and detect suspicious activity more quickly.

But beyond the technical language and conference presentations, a more important issue ran through the discussions: whether Nigeria’s regulatory system can keep up with the speed of digital financial growth.

According to conference organisers, Nigeria now has more than 70 million active mobile money and digital wallet users, making it one of the fastest-growing digital finance markets globally. That shift has happened rapidly, and for many Nigerians, digital banking is no longer optional. It has become part of everyday life.

In his keynote address, the Technical Adviser to the President on Economic and Financial Inclusion, Dr. Nurudeen Abubakar Zauro, described RegTech as “the intelligent bridge between innovation and accountability.”

The description reflects the balancing act facing regulators. Nigeria’s fintech sector has grown aggressively over the past few years and attracted major investment, but the expansion has also exposed weaknesses in consumer protection, fraud prevention and cybersecurity.

The Central Bank of Nigeria used the conference to signal that it wants regulation to support innovation rather than suppress it. According to the apex bank, its goal is “not simply to regulate innovation, but to create an environment in which innovation can thrive responsibly.”

That may sound straightforward, but maintaining that balance is unlikely to be easy.

In many developing economies, regulators have sometimes responded to fintech growth with heavy restrictions that slowed innovation and discouraged investment. Nigerian authorities appear to be trying to avoid that outcome while also responding to rising concerns about fraud and security breaches.

Those concerns are growing alongside transaction volumes. Many cases involving phishing scams, SIM swap fraud, identity theft and unauthorised account access have become increasingly common as more Nigerians move their financial activities online. For many users, confidence in digital finance now depends less on convenience and more on whether their money is actually safe.

That is one reason trust became a recurring issue in discussions among regulators and fintech operators.
Several speakers acknowledged that transaction growth alone is not enough to build a stable digital economy.

Nigerians who experience failed transfers, delayed reversals, or frozen accounts often carry those frustrations into future decisions about whether to continue using digital platforms.

The issue of remittances also featured prominently as Africa continues to record some of the highest remittance transfer costs in the world, averaging above eight percent. For Nigeria, where diaspora remittances remain a major source of foreign exchange, those charges have real economic consequences because they reduce the amount eventually reaching families and small businesses.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has reported diaspora remittance inflows above $20 billion in recent years, making lower transfer costs an issue that goes beyond financial policy discussions.

The government’s ambition of building a one-trillion-dollar economy by 2030 is expected to depend heavily on the strength of the country’s digital financial infrastructure. But industry observers say the long-term success of that ambition will depend on more than transaction figures or policy statements.

The bigger test will be whether regulators, banks, and fintech companies can build systems that people trust enough to use consistently.

For now, the figures point to a financial system changing at remarkable speed. Whether regulation, consumer protection, and public trust can keep pace may determine how sustainable that growth becomes.