Fintech Operations: “We Found Out The Owner Of Opay Is In China And It Is Worrisome” —Hon. Olufemi Bamisile

According to a report by Arise News on Wednesday, October 7, 2025, Nigeria’s push to strengthen regulatory control over its fast-growing financial technology (fintech) industry has encountered a major obstacle. A legislative committee investigating the sector revealed that efforts to engage some of the country’s biggest fintech companies Moniepoint, Opay, and Kuda were unsuccessful.

Hon. Olufemi Bamisile, who chairs the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Regulation of Fintech Operations, disclosed that these companies failed to honor official invitations to appear before the panel. He added that even emails sent to their corporate addresses bounced back, raising doubts about their operational transparency and accessibility.

Bamisile expressed concern that Nigerian regulators are struggling to verify the physical locations and management structures of these fintech firms, despite their processing of billions of naira in transactions daily. This opacity, he warned, poses risks to national security, consumer protection, and data privacy.

Citing Opay as an example, Bamisile noted that its ownership links to China have made oversight even more complicated. Most of these regulating agencies don’t know where these operators are. We found out the owner of Opay is in China, and it is worrisome, he stated.

The development underscores the growing tension between Nigeria’s regulators and foreign-backed fintech firms dominating the local digital payments ecosystem.