Guaranty Trust Holding Company Chief Executive Officer Segun Agbaje says the banking group is no longer worried about the competitive threat posed by fintech companies, explaining that the rapid growth of its digital payments subsidiary, HabariPay, has positioned the group to compete aggressively in Nigeria’s evolving financial technology market.
Speaking during an interview with NairaMetric’s CEO, Ugo Obi-Chukwu, on the sidelines of GTCO’s annual general meeting in Lagos, Agbaje said the company deliberately responded to the rise of fintech disruptors by building its own digital payments infrastructure rather than attempting to resist the shift reshaping the banking industry.
“Everybody was really nervous about fintech, so we built our own speed boat. That’s Habari,” Agbaje said.
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“Habari is competing very, very effectively and it means we are not scared about the threat of fintechs any longer. We have a very strong engine to compete with them.”
The remarks mark a shift from how Nigeria’s major banking groups viewed fintech companies as existential disruptors.
For years, investors and analysts questioned whether traditional banks could withstand mounting pressure from agile fintech firms offering faster onboarding, lower transaction costs, and digital-first payment solutions. Companies such as Flutterwave, Moniepoint, OPay, and PalmPay transformed Nigeria’s payments landscape by rapidly expanding agency banking, transfers, merchant services, and mobile wallets.
The rise of those firms triggered concerns that legacy banks risked losing transaction revenues, customer engagement, and younger digital users.
GTCO’s latest results suggest the group believes it has found a workable counterstrategy by embedding fintech operations within its existing banking structure while leveraging its low-cost deposit base and established customer network.
HabariPay posted a profit after tax of N9.7 billion in 2025, representing a 155% jump from N3.8 billion recorded in 2024. Operating income rose 122% from N5.8 billion to N12.9 billion over the same period. The company’s rapid growth highlights how digital payments are becoming increasingly central to banking profitability in Nigeria as lenders seek to reduce dependence on traditional interest income in a volatile macroeconomic environment.
Although operating expenses doubled to N3.2 billion as HabariPay expanded operations, the business maintained strong efficiency levels and recorded no loan impairment charges or tax expenses during the year. The performance made HabariPay the strongest contributor among GTCO’s non-banking subsidiaries in 2025.
Guaranty Trust Fund Managers generated N9 billion in profit, while Guaranty Trust Pension Managers posted N1.7 billion in earnings.
Agbaje described the subsidiaries as increasingly important pillars within GTCO’s broader financial ecosystem.
“These are our little babies and it’s working perfectly for us,” he said.
“GTBank, if you look at it like a factory, is a low cost operator. So where we’re losing money to yield in the past to other people, we’re now losing it to ourselves within our ecosystem.”
That comment reflects a broader transformation underway in African banking, where financial groups are increasingly attempting to internalise high-growth revenue streams that previously migrated to standalone fintech firms. Rather than competing solely through conventional banking products, lenders are now building ecosystems spanning payments, pensions, asset management, digital lending, and merchant services.
The strategy also helps banks diversify revenue away from interest-rate cycles and sovereign debt exposure, particularly important in Nigeria, where lenders have historically generated large profits from government securities and currency-related gains.
Agbaje said GTCO’s 2025 earnings quality remained strong even after the fading of major revaluation gains that boosted profits in 2024 following the naira devaluation.
“For us, it’s been a really good year. 2025 quality of earnings was really good. It has allowed us to pay a healthy dividend. All indices are right. We made up the revaluation gains of 2024. Core business is strong,” he said.
His comments appear aimed partly at reassuring investors that GTCO’s profitability is becoming more structurally diversified rather than overly dependent on one-off foreign exchange windfalls. The group has also been expanding geographically to reduce concentration risk tied to Nigeria’s economic volatility.
According to Agbaje, international operations contributed 27% of group profit in 2025, while Nigeria accounted for 73%. He identified Ghana as one of GTCO’s strongest-performing foreign markets.
“We’re diversifying the earnings from outside of Nigeria, but Nigeria is still the mothership,” he said.
“Ultimately, the diversification gives us strength. It’ll give us a competitive edge and we’re hoping to break the country’s sovereign risk rating by diversifying the earnings strong enough outside one geographical location.”
The reference to sovereign risk matters because Nigerian banks remain heavily influenced by the country’s macroeconomic conditions, including inflation, exchange-rate instability, fiscal pressures, and regulatory policy shifts. By increasing contributions from foreign subsidiaries and fee-based businesses, GTCO is attempting to reduce vulnerability to domestic economic shocks.
Agbaje also defended the group’s long-term strategy at a time when some investors had earlier questioned the stock’s valuation and growth trajectory.
“I remember we were trying to get people to buy this stock at 44 Naira and we’re trying to convince them. I think what has happened is vindication for us,” he said.
GTCO recently completed a N500 billion capital raise as Nigerian banks prepare for new regulatory capital requirements imposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Agbaje stressed that the capital raise increases the group’s responsibility toward shareholders, particularly retail investors who depend heavily on dividends.
“Anytime you go out and collect people’s monies, you have a sense of responsibility,” he said. “We have a lot of retail investors, and retail investors rely on dividends for day-to-day life, for expenses, for school fees, for things.”
On pensions, Agbaje said GTCO intends to maintain a measured expansion strategy because of the long-term structure of the business.
“It’s a fee-based business, fixed income, so you have to grow carefully. Can’t do crazy acquisitions because the ROIs will work, but it’s a three-year journey for us,” he explained.
However, the broader significance of GTCO’s strategy lies in how traditional African banks are adapting to technological disruption. Instead of being displaced by fintech firms, several major lenders are increasingly absorbing fintech capabilities into integrated ecosystems that combine digital scale with banking licenses, large customer bases, and cheaper funding structures.
That transition may ultimately reshape the competitive balance in Nigeria’s financial sector, where the line separating banks from fintech companies is becoming progressively harder to define.