The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has identified high compliance costs and prolonged regulatory approval timelinesas major obstacles slowing the growth of Nigeria’s fast-rising fintech sector. The concerns are contained in the 2025 CBN Fintech Report, which reviewed Nigeria’s evolving digital finance ecosystem through surveys, stakeholder workshops and regulator–industry engagements. According to the report, while Nigeria remains one of Africa’s leading fintech hubs, regulatory friction is increasingly weighing down innovation, product rollout and expansion plans of fintech operators. Findings from the CBN-led survey revealed that 87.5 per cent of fintech firms said the cost of meeting regulatory and risk requirements significantly affects their ability to innovate, while 62.5 per cent identified delays in approvals and ambiguity in guidelines as their biggest challenges. The report noted that regulatory timelines have become a major pain point, with over one-third of fintech operators saying it takes more than 12 months to bring a new product to market due largely to compliance bottlenecks.

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