Firm Backs Cash Flow Lending as Formal Credit Access Rises

Nume Ekeghe 

Moniepoint has backed cash flow-based lending as a pathway to widening access to formal credit, following findings by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) that formal credit penetration in Nigeria has nearly doubled since 2023.

The company said the findings of EFInA’s Access to Financial Services in Nigeria (A2F) 2026 Survey align with its lending model, which assesses borrowers based on how their businesses earn and move money rather than relying primarily on collateral.

The survey showed that formal credit access has risen to 10 per cent nationally, nearly twice the 2023 level. It also recorded notable inclusion gains among women business owners and farmers, with formal inclusion among women business owners rising from 67.5 per cent to 76.3 per cent, while that of women farmers increased from 42.7 per cent to 53.6 per cent.

According to the survey, formal financial inclusion now stands at 73 per cent, representing an estimated 87.2 million adults.

The 2026 A2F Survey, conducted with the National Bureau of Statistics across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, was based on more than 18,600 interviews conducted between April and June 2026.

Moniepoint’s Co-Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer, Tosin Eniolorunda, said the finding reflected the company’s experience.

“EFInA’s institutional work has since 2008 shown, survey after survey, that access to financial services means little without trust. Undergirding this trust is the firm belief that the system was built with ordinary Nigerians in mind, and as we have seen, trust, once broken, is not easily restored. Building that trust has been central to how we operate at Moniepoint, and the results bear this out: 83 per cent of our users report an improved quality of life, and 85 per cent report greater confidence in achieving their financial goals,” he said.