OPay Digital Services Limited is facing increased regulatory scrutiny after the company incurred a combined ₦994 million in fines between 2023 and 2025 for breaches of regulations governing financial services, data protection, advertising and corporate operations.
The penalties were imposed by four regulatory bodies, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
The disclosures provide a picture of the compliance challenges confronting one of Nigeria’s major digital financial services providers, with violations spanning anti-money laundering controls, customer verification, consumer protection, data privacy and mobile money operations.
A review of the penalties shows that the CBN accounted for the largest share of the sanctions, with OPay facing multiple fines over alleged breaches of financial regulations and operational requirements.
Among the regulations cited were the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020, the CBN Anti-Money Laundering, Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Countering Proliferation Financing Regulation 2022, the CBN Customer Due Diligence Regulation 2023 and the Consumer Protection Regulations 2019.
The company also incurred sanctions under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, as well as legislation governing advertising standards and corporate operations.
The financial penalties began in 2023, when the CBN fined OPay ₦26 million for violations relating to money laundering and terrorism financing requirements.
Rather than ending with that sanction, the company faced another penalty in 2024, when the apex bank imposed a further ₦113.7 million fine over similar anti-money laundering and terrorism financing breaches.
The 2024 financial year proved particularly costly for the fintech operator, as additional regulators also took action over separate compliance failures.
OPay was fined ₦197 million for violations of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020. The CBN also imposed a ₦10 million penalty over customer due diligence failures and another ₦2 million for breaches of consumer protection regulations.
Data protection compliance attracted another substantial sanction during the year. The Nigeria Data Protection Commission imposed a ₦125 million fine on the company over violations of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.
The penalties extended beyond financial regulation and customer information management.
The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria imposed a ₦7 million fine on OPay over alleged breaches of advertising regulations, while the Corporate Affairs Commission sanctioned the company with a further ₦1 million penalty for violations of the Companies and Allied Matters Act.
However, the biggest single penalty came in 2025, when the CBN imposed a ₦464 million fine on OPay for violating the Framework for Mobile Money Services in Nigeria 2021.
The sanction accounted for a substantial portion of the company’s cumulative regulatory penalties and brought the total fines disclosed for the three-year period to approximately ₦994 million.
The spread of the violations across different regulatory agencies raises questions about the effectiveness of OPay’s compliance systems, particularly given the range of obligations attached to operating a large digital financial services platform.
Anti-money laundering and customer due diligence requirements are central to preventing financial crimes, including the use of financial platforms to move illicit funds. Operators are expected to maintain effective customer identification procedures, monitor suspicious transactions and comply with reporting obligations.
Data protection has also become an increasingly important regulatory concern as fintech companies collect and process large volumes of customers’ personal and financial information.
The NDPC’s ₦125 million sanction highlights the financial consequences that can arise when companies fall short of their obligations under Nigeria’s data protection framework.
For OPay, the penalties also raise questions about how effectively its internal controls have responded to the growing demands of operating in Nigeria’s rapidly expanding digital payments market.
IPO Withdrawal Amid Regulatory Scrutiny
The disclosures come at a particularly sensitive time for the company, following the withdrawal of its proposed Initial Public Offering on the New York Stock Exchange amid a regulatory inquiry in an undisclosed foreign jurisdiction.
OPay had been preparing to raise $304 million through the sale of 16 million American Depositary Shares at $19 each, with the proposed offering targeting a valuation of approximately $4 billion.
The listing was expected to mark a major milestone in the company’s expansion and provide access to international capital markets.
However, the plans were abruptly abandoned on October 30, 2026, when OPay announced that it had reached a mutual agreement with its underwriters to terminate the offering.
The decision came just one day after the company signed its underwriting agreement, with the ongoing foreign regulatory inquiry cited as the reason for withdrawing the proposed listing.
Although the foreign investigation and the Nigerian regulatory penalties are separate developments, their timing places OPay’s compliance record under greater scrutiny as the company navigates its ambitions in international financial markets.