Moniepoint Group CEO, Tosin Eniolorunda, has called on Nigerian lenders to place greater emphasis on how businesses generate and manage cash rather than relying mainly on the collateral they can provide.
His position comes as formal credit usage among Nigerian adults rose to 10% in 2026, up from 6% recorded in 2023, according to the latest Access to Financial Services in Nigeria Survey by EFInA.
The development has renewed discussions about how financial institutions can use transaction records and other available data to identify businesses with steady income but limited access to traditional forms of security.
Moniepoint said the findings of the 2026 survey support a cash flow based approach to lending, which it believes could help more small and informal businesses gain access to formal credit.
Eniolorunda also stressed the importance of trust in expanding financial participation. According to him, greater access to financial services will have limited impact if customers do not have confidence in the institutions providing them.
Moniepoint believes wider adoption of transaction based lending could help Nigeria move closer to the National Financial Inclusion Strategy target of 40% formal credit penetration.
The approach involves assessing a business through its transaction history and cash flow patterns. This could give lenders a better understanding of businesses that maintain regular revenue but may not have property or other conventional assets to offer as collateral.
Figures released by Moniepoint show that 83% of its users said its services had improved their quality of life, while 85% reported having greater confidence in achieving their financial goals.
The company’s inaugural Impact Report also stated that it provided more than $700 million in loans to micro, small and medium enterprises in 2025. It said three out of every four borrowers accessed formal business credit for the first time. These figures were reported by the company and have not been independently verified.
Meanwhile, the EFInA survey shows that Nigeria’s broader financial inclusion picture has improved. The survey covered 18,679 adults across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with data collected between April and June 2026.
Formal financial inclusion increased to 73%, representing about 87.2 million adults, compared with 64% in 2023. The figure also exceeded the 70% target under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy.
Formal credit usage, however, remains far below the national target. Although it climbed from 6% in 2023 to 10% in 2026, it is still a long way from the 40% formal credit penetration goal.
The survey also highlighted the strong connection between trust and financial activity. Among adults who trusted their financial service providers, 96.9% had carried out a financial transaction within the previous 90 days. The figure fell to 65.6% among those who did not trust their providers.
Women also recorded notable improvements in financial inclusion. Formal inclusion among women business owners rose from 67.5% to 76.3%, while the figure for women farmers increased from 42.7% to 53.6%.
Moniepoint further reported that businesses receiving its loans experienced a 36% increase in average transaction value. Women accounted for 36% of the company’s loan book, compared with an industry benchmark of between 15% and 25%.
The push for greater use of transaction data in lending is not new. Eniolorunda has previously argued that Nigeria’s payment infrastructure could provide a foundation for extending credit to small and informal businesses that have traditionally struggled to meet the requirements of conventional lenders.
However, the rise in formal borrowing also raises concerns about how the credit is being used and whether borrowers are becoming more financially secure as access expands.
The 2026 EFInA findings show that coping and consumption loans accounted for 40.8% of formal borrowing, compared with 31.7% in 2023. Such borrowing has now overtaken productive enterprise credit, which stood at 34.3%.
Repayment pressure is another concern. About 45.8% of people using formal credit reported experiencing some level of repayment stress, with some describing their situation as serious.
The survey also found that only 30.7% of formally included adults were financially healthy. This leaves an estimated 60.4 million adults either financially vulnerable or simply coping with their financial circumstances.
There are also significant regional differences in financial inclusion. Formal inclusion reached 85% in urban areas, compared with 58% in rural communities. The South West recorded the highest level at 96.4%, while the North East stood at 61.4%.
For Moniepoint, the figures strengthen the case for using real business activity and cash flow to make lending decisions. Such a model could open the door to businesses that may be excluded by collateral based requirements.
But the EFInA findings also suggest that increasing access to credit alone will not be enough. As more Nigerians gain access to formal borrowing, the quality of lending, the purpose of the credit and borrowers’ ability to repay will become equally important in determining whether expanded financial access translates into stronger and more sustainable economic activity.
