Monzo goes Nigerian

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—Zia

First came Zenith Bank. Now Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) is circling. At this rate, Côte d'Ivoire is starting to look like one of Africa's hottest banking destinations. 

What's the latest? MCB, Mauritius' oldest and largest lender with nearly $20 billion in assets as of June 2025, is considering launching operations in Côte d'Ivoire. If it goes ahead, MCB would become the first Mauritian bank to enter the Ivorian market.

Does Mauritius have a thing for Côte d'Ivoire? It certainly looks that way. In 2016, both countries signed a number of partnership agreements to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries. Mauritian investments in Côte d'Ivoire have grown from around $593 million in 2012 to more than $1 billion today. More than 120 Mauritian companies already operate in the country across sectors, including finance and manufacturing services. 

Banks don't just wake up and decide to expand: Opening a bank in a new country can be expensive. Banks typically look for growing economies with increasing financial activity, and where other banks are going. Côte d'Ivoire ticks several of those boxes. The country recorded a banking penetration rate of 33.6% in 2024, making it one of the most banked markets in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). It also accounts for roughly a third of all banking assets in the eight-country bloc. 

It could also be why the country keeps popping up on expansion plans. In 2025, Zenith Bank, Nigeria’s largest bank by market valuation, announced plans to strengthen its presence in the country and in other Francophone markets.

Monzo, the British neobank with over 15 million users, has made its entrance into the Nigerian remittance market. Customers can now send naira directly from the Monzo app, powered by a long-standing partnership with Wise, which received an approval-in-principle from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as an International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) in March. Until August 22, the first transfer is free.

Remittance is a big market. The Nigeria-UK remittance corridor is one of the world's busiest. Nigeria received over $20 billion in remittances in 2024, and the UK is consistently among the top three source markets. Monzo isn't building a remittance product from scratch; it's embedding Wise's licensed infrastructure into an app that millions of Nigerians in the UK already use as their primary bank account. The product insight is simple: the best remittance experience is the one that requires the fewest new steps.

Who else is playing in remittance? Monzo's entry arrives in a corridor already crowded with competition. LemFi, the remittance company, secured an investment from Tether to add stablecoin settlement. Last week, Kenya’s WapiPaysecured a Canadian payments licence to expand its diaspora network. Revolut is building toward a South Africa launch by 2028. Every major UK neobank is now actively chasing the African diaspora corridor. 

What differentiates them will come down to fees, speed, and whether Wise's regulatory status moves from approval-in-principle to full authorisation. Without it, Monzo's Nigeria product has a regulatory ceiling.

What else? After the promo period, Monzo will charge standard Wise fees on Nigerian transfers, meaning this isn't a permanently cheaper option, just a more convenient one. Convenience is worth something. But in a market where other players make plays on competitive fees, Monzo's play is really about stickiness, keeping users inside one app rather than losing them to a specialist the moment they want to send money home.

Tanzania's mobile internet story is strong on the mainland, with Vodacom and Yas together holding over 50% of the market. Zanzibar's story is different. The archipelago'stourism-dependent economy runs on connectivity; hotels, tour operators, financial services, e-government, but reliable fixed broadband has been a persistent gap. 

That gap is now being formally addressed. The Zanzibar government hassigned a TZS 300 billion ($114.5 million) deal with Yas Fibre, a subsidiary of Yas Tanzania, the country'ssecond-largest mobile operator with 28.9% market share, to roll out fibre broadband across Unguja and Pemba islands over the next three years, targeting 100,000 connected households and businesses by 2028.

What are the details? Yas Fibre signed the deal with theZanzibar Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Agency (ZICTIA) and the Zanzibar Ministry of Communication, Information Technology and Innovation, giving it formal institutional backing beyond a commercial contract. The TZS 300 billion ($114 million) will be invested over 20 years, with the first 3 years focused on the 100,000-customer target.

What’s the Internet like in Tanzania? Across all of Tanzania, Fibre to the Home (FTTH) subscriptions stood at just 123,052 at the end of 2025. Fixed broadband has been the missing piece of Tanzania's digital infrastructure story, with mobile internet doing nearly all the work. Zanzibar's deal doesn't solve that nationally, but it gives the country's most economically significant archipelago a dedicated fibre operator with state backing, the kind of structure that tends to outlast commercial pilots that fade without institutional support.

Why Yas? Why now? Yas is not a new entrant betting on an untested market. It built its 28.9% mobile share by competing directly with Vodacom across mainland Tanzania. Moving into fixed broadband in Zanzibar is a logical extension, and a market where the demand from tourism and commerce is concentrated enough to make the unit economics work faster than they would in a dispersed rural rollout.

It seems the African fintech sector in 2026 is making a play for stablecoins. The latest company joining that list is Daya, a Nigerian startup that has raised a $2.4 million pre-seed round to expand its stablecoin-powered payments infrastructure for businesses.

Let's break it down: Daya helps African businesses receive dollar payments, move money across borders, and settle transactions using stablecoins. The startup says its funding round was oversubscribed, which is startup-speak for 'more investors wanted to invest than there was room for.' The company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its payment corridors and compliance systems.

Daya has been making moves: Earlier this month, it partnered with Aptos Foundation and crypto exchange HashKey MENA to build a payment corridor connecting businesses in Africa and the Middle East.

Stablecoin, stablecoin, stablecoin: The funding comes at a time when stablecoins are increasingly being used as financial infrastructure. Earlier this month, Flutterwave raised a Series E round from Ripple and announced plans to integrate RLUSD, Ripple's dollar-backed stablecoin, and its XRP Ledger into its payments infrastructure.

Why? Many businesses might not care if a payment runs through a bank, a blockchain, or a raven. They care that it arrives quickly and without extra charges. That's why an increasing number of African fintechs are building around stablecoins.