Moniepoint pushes cash-flow lending as Nigeria's formal credit hits 10%
Moniepoint advocates for lenders to assess businesses by cash flow and transaction data rather than collateral, citing the EFInA 2026 Access to Financial Services in Nigeria (A2F) Survey. The survey shows formal credit use rose to 10% of Nigerian adults in 2026, up from 6% in 2023, while overall financial inclusion reached 73% (about 87.2 million adults). Moniepoint Group CEO Tosin Eniolorunda stressed that "access to financial services means little without trust," noting the company disbursed over $700 million to MSMEs in 2025, with three out of four borrowers accessing formal business credit for the first time and women comprising 36% of its loan book.
Despite these gains, the survey reveals worrying trends: coping and consumption loans accounted for 40.8% of formal borrowing in 2026, up from 31.7% in 2023, overtaking productive enterprise borrowing at 34.3%. About 45.8% of formal‑credit users reported some or serious repayment stress, and only 30.7% of formally included adults were financially healthy, leaving roughly 60.4 million adults financially vulnerable or merely coping. Inclusion remains uneven—urban areas at 85% versus rural 58%, and the South West at 96.4% compared with the North East at 61.4%.
Moniepoint argues that leveraging transaction and cash‑flow data can reach borrowers excluded by collateral‑based lending, urging the financial sector to adopt this approach to deepen inclusion and support productive activity. Will lenders shift to cash‑flow scoring to serve more small businesses, and how can entrepreneurs use their transaction history to access credit?