- Paystack recently launched its consumer payment app, Zap, to facilitate fast and secure bank transfers
- This proposition isn’t new to the Nigerian market
- Zap has its competitive edge over other financial technology apps
Paystack, a Nigerian financial technology (fintech) giant, recently launched Zap in a move away from its nearly decade-long focus on merchant-based solutions to consumer payments.
Zap, the consumer payment app, is designed to facilitate fast and secure bank transfers within 30 seconds.
Paystack co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Shola Akinlade, at the launch event, said Zap is focused on simplifying bank transfers and making payments reliable and effortless.
“For years, we have been building infrastructure for merchants, and now we are excited to show you how this same infrastructure can transform your everyday experiences.
“Zap is not trying to be a neobank. It is focused on one thing: bank transfers. Fast; making payments as reliable and effortless as possible,” Akinlade said.
Zap, which was initially released on November 14, 2024, with an update on March 3, 2025, has already garnered over 1,000 downloads on the Google Play Store.
Zap’s unique proposition isn’t new to Nigerian market
However, Paystack’s intention for building Zap, which is to facilitate fast and secure bank transfers, is not new to the Nigerian market.
The last few years, especially during elongated periods of cash scarcity in Nigeria or restriction in movements such as the COVID-19 year, 2020, have seen Nigerian fintechs develop innovative solutions to address Nigerians’ banking needs.
With millions of customers in Nigeria in just a few years of operation, fintechs redefined electronic banking with innovations like lightning speed, mobile, real-time, boundless transactions, and cheaper or fewer charges.
Fintechs, such as Flutterwave, OPay, PalmPay, Moniepoint, Kuda, etc., have become widely accepted for these innovative approaches to banking, further widening their contribution to the growth of digital payments in Nigeria.
Their popularity may have been further tested, approved, and trusted in early 2023 during the now-botched naira redesign and cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which led to a significant cash crunch in the country.
The fintechs demonstrated resilience during the period, ensuring transaction settlements that exposed vulnerabilities in many traditional banking platforms.
In recent years, there has been an uptick in the adoption of electronic payment, mostly spurred by Nigeria’s young demographic as well as innovation by fintechs, reflected in the volume and value of transactions carried out through electronic payment channels.
Fintechs to the rescue as banks underwent system upgrades
As was the case during the crash crunch in early 2023, fintechs came to the rescue of Nigerians as banks underwent system upgrades in late 2024.
The co-CEO of XChangeBOX, Abiola Jimoh, said fintechs were helpful during the downtimes caused by the upgrade of bank systems.
Jimoh said, “If not for the new banks and fintech players stepping in just like they did during the cashless policy period, the situation would have been much worse. These delays affect trust in the entire banking ecosystem.
“Fintechs are helping to complement the efforts of traditional banks. We need to continue supporting them to ensure better user experiences and greater stability in the system.”
Other fintechs also have charges edge over Zap
Another edge that other fintechs have over Zap is lower charges.
Before the implementation of the Federal Government’s Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) in December 2024, which saw fintechs charge N50 for any deposit of N10,000 or above, fintechs like OPay, Kuda, Moniepoint, and others charged nothing for depositing or withdrawing on their platforms.
Transferring from these fintechs platforms still costs N0.00. However, some, like OPay, charge customers N10 after their third transfer to other banks in a day.
Zap, on the other hand, charges a total of N50 for depositing and withdrawing N10,000 via a linked account – N35 for depositing, while withdrawing N9,900 comes with an additional N25 fee.
This makes Zap more expensive for users than OPay, PalmPay, and Moniepoint, which are more affordable alternatives.
Regarding this, Akinlade said, “The pricing is going to evolve.”
In addition, fintechs like OPay allow users to carry out other transactions like utility bill payments, artime recharge, data subscriptions, and betting.
Zap’s advantage
Unlike other fintechs, Zap’s competitive edge is that it allows customers to fund their accounts by linking their Nigerian bank accounts to Zap using Paystack’s direct debit infrastructure or by depositing money directly into a Paystack-Titan account.
Zap supports up to 23 traditional banks in Nigeria and excludes neo-banks like OPay, Moniepoint, and PalmPay.
Another advantage of using Zap is that users can also link debit or credit cards from any country to Zap, though its rates are higher than other apps that perform such functions.
However, Akinlade said the app isn’t a remittance service.
“Today, we’re not targeting the remittance scenario. Our ideal scenario is for people from abroad to come to Nigeria and make transfers using Zap.
“If you’re sending money to Nigeria from abroad, you can wait a couple of minutes. Our priority is immediate delivery,” Akinlade said.
Though the receive-money-from-any-country feature of Zap gives it an edge over fintechs like OPay, Moniepoint, and Kuda, it is not a problem existing remittances apps like Chipper Cash, Flutterwave, Sendwave, Payoneer, LemFi, and others haven’t solved.
What Nigerians think of Paystack’s Zap
The news of Paystack’s new chip in the block sure got Nigerians talking, some in support and others querying the unique solution the app offers.
@TheOAPod tweeted, “When Zap starts selling airtime, we’ll make this Shola’s big man laugh the intro to the podcast,” and added, “Just realized Paystack didn’t give anyone welcome bonus. Smh.”
@oderaszn said, “Woah. I thought OPay already solved this problem.”
@hurtch wrote, “Why are you building an app for a problem OPay already solved?
“And just to reiterate, I don't have a problem with you Fintech folks, I’m not just a big fan of people coming out every day to reinvent the bicycle wheel instead of inventing news things. It’s an agenda I have been pushing for a while.”
@hurtch added, “Here is the thing; since yesterday I have since downloaded Zap and used it for a few transactions. It works well for transfers (but so does my OPay, which does that and other things).
“The key feature I have noticed is its ability to work with my Apple Pay and effect transactions directly from my US bank account (but it’s using rates way worse than Lemfi and I would prefer using Lemfi for that purpose).
“Hence, the question again— What neo-solution is it proffering? Why will I keep using it instead of my OPay or my Lemfi for both local and international transactions?”
@LolaHolmes said, “It’s probably for the cool people who think Opay is razz.”
@enyola tweeted, “From the description, it’s an app that aggregates, not a banking app. Sounds like something that gives you access to all your banks in one app.”
@imodoye_abioro wrote, “I swear I just deleted my tweet saying this. I see the edge use case here (people who do NOT have Opay). And people who keep majority of their money in other banks but want that opay speed using other banks. What this will do is connect to the bank, then transfer the money.”
Paystack’s Zap faces legal threat from crypto firm over brand name
Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that Paystack’s consumer payment app, Zap, has been issued with a legal threat from Zap Africa, a cryptocurrency exchange that facilitates the conversion of crypto to naira, over the use of the brand name “Zap.”
The legal threat comes just days after Paystack launched the mobile app designed to endure fast and secure bank transfers.
