Sycamore, a Lagos-based financial services company, has received a microfinance bank licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria, a move that gives its more than 400,000 customers direct access to deposit accounts and faster payment processing through the national payments infrastructure.
The licence, granted to a new entity called Sycamore Microfinance Bank, allows the company to accept customer deposits under a regulated banking framework. It also connects Sycamore directly to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, the backbone of electronic payments in the country.
For customers, this translates to faster transaction settlement times and a regulated layer of protection for funds held on the platform. Until now, Sycamore operated primarily as a lending platform licensed by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, alongside an asset management arm licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The MFB licence adds a third pillar: the ability to take deposits and process payments independently, rather than routing them through partner banks. Babatunde Akin-Moses, Sycamore’s Group CEO, said the licence addresses a gap that existing customers have repeatedly raised.
“ Our customers have asked for the ability to save and hold funds on our platform, not just borrow or invest. The microfinance bank licence lets us offer that in a regulated environment where their deposits are protected,” he said. The practical impact for everyday users centres on two things: cost and speed.
Direct NIBSS connectivity means Sycamore no longer depends on third-party banks to settle payments on behalf of its customers. Transactions that previously required intermediaries can now be processed in-house, reducing both processing time and the fees associated with multi-party settlements.
Onyinye Okonji, co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer, said the company designed the MFB to serve the same demographic it has built its lending and investment businesses around: working professionals and small business owners who want access to a full range of financial services from a single provider.
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We want them to be able to do all of that in one place, with the same level of trust and regulatory oversight they expect from any licensed financial institution,” Okonji said. Sycamore’s customer base has grown to over 400,000, with ₦ 50 billion in assets under management and $73 million in transaction volume processed last year.
The company generated $5 million in revenue during the same period, funded entirely through organic growth rather than external venture capital. The MFB licence is the third regulatory approval Sycamore has secured since its founding in 2019. The company started with state-level money-lender licences in Lagos, Ogun, and other states before receiving FCCPC approval for its lending operations.