Paystack revives consumer app, Zap, eight months after $160,000 fine. What comes next?

After eight months of quiet following a fine from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Paystack’s Zap announces new features and integration to Paystack Checkout.

Zap’s launch in April was timed to take advantage of the expected Detty December rush that sees Nigerian diasporans and others visit the country during the holidays. These diasporans, using international payment methods like Apple Pay, debit and credit cards, often require access to local currency to make payments. Zap offered a wallet, that was fundable by Apple Pay, alongside a bank transfer service to make local payments. The wallet was powered by the Paystack-Titan Bank partnership, while Apple Pay and bank transfer relied on Paystack’s direct integrations and licenses.

However, a regulatory fine from the CBN forced the app into the background and a rebuild phase. The CBN said that Paystack, licensed as a Switch and Processor, operated Zap beyond the scope of its licence. So, it fined the company ₦250 million, about $156,000, at the time.

The company update suggests that Paystack has resolved the compliance disputes. “Over the past few months, we successfully completed a regulatory review,” the company said in a statement. “Separately, we tightened the foundations of the app and improved the parts of Zap that people use most…”

One of the most visible changes to Zap is that the accounts are no longer issued by the Paystack-Titan bank partnership. They are now issued by Fidelity Bank, a leading Tier 2 commercial bank in Nigeria, which seems to be working with a lot of fintechs, including Remita.

It is not clear at this time why the bank provider change occurred. One school of thought is that Paystack and Titan Trust Bank got a Letter of No Objection (LONO) approval from the regulator to specifically issue an account number for payment purposes only. That is, to issue temporary NUBANs (virtual account numbers) that helps merchants to collect payments via bank transfer using Paystack Checkout solution. However, if that is the case, how come Brass, the SME banking platform acquired by Paystack and others, still issues Paystack-Titan accounts?

Zap by Paystack competes with popular digital bank like OPay

When Zap by Paystack launched, one of its core tenets was fast payments. Despite Nigeria having an instant payment system, NIP, many consumers are beginning to notice the microsecond delays, as they use them in high-pressure situations like a roadside vendor and an Uber driver, where cash or saved payment methods are the default.

OPay swept the market by offering fast transfers, which allows recipients receive the money before the transfer animation is completed on the app. While OPay is not a licensed Switch, industry experts say that they are leveraging an internal switching technique to achieve such a feat. In this regard, Paystack being a Switch has the licence upperhand to build even deeper and more robust integrations to ensure very fast payments.

In addition to the fast payment launch value proposition, Zap has now added the conventional features of a digital banking app. These include: a Tier 3 account tier with daily transfers up to ₦5 million; a balance visibility toggle to help users hide their balances; real-time visibility into the availability of a beneficiary institution, which OPay, and Moniepoint already offer; and automatic bank suggestions that require users to just enter the account number and Zap will suggest the bank.

The next phase

Now, the next phase is upon us, closing the consumer-merchant loop. Paystack has added Zap to its Checkout page. This allows merchants to easily accept online payments from their customers via “pull” payments from the customer’s financial institution.

Previously, OPay, Nigeria’s leading consumer fintech with over 50 million downloads on Playstore, was the only one featured prominently on the list of payment methods that shoppers can pay with. Now, Zap with 10,000-plus downloads is now listed in pole position.

The synergy and cross-platform promotion between Zap for consumers and Paystack for businesses is expected. It remains to be seen, how Paystack, which was a pioneer in the online payments space and now a leader in local acquiring, will compete in the consumer space with heavyweights like Moniepoint, Kuda and of course, OPay. At least, the compliance shackles are now off.

Editor’s note on Dec. 19, 2025: Significant updates have been made to this article.