The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has imposed a ₦250 million fine on leading fintech company Paystack for breaching regulatory requirements in the rollout of its peer-to-peer payment platform, Zap by Paystack. The penalty underscores growing regulatory enforcement actions aimed at ensuring strict adherence to Nigeria’s financial services framework.

According to a report by TechCabal, Paystack—owned by global payments giant Stripe—launched the Zap product on March 24 without securing prior approval from the CBN, a clear violation of compliance management protocols. The product, designed for fast and secure money transfers, has since come under regulatory scrutiny for allegedly operating outside the scope of the company’s approved licence.

The launch also ignited a legal tussle with Zap Africa, another startup with a similar name, raising questions about intellectual property, governance, and regulatory risk management. The situation has intensified public and institutional focus on the need for effective regulatory compliance and internal controls within Nigeria’s evolving fintech ecosystem.

At the launch event, Paystack’s Co-founder and CEO, Shola Akinlade, described Zap as a tool to deliver “fast, reliable, and secure transfers,” but the absence of proper regulatory filings has triggered the largest known regulatory penalty faced by the company since its licensing by the CBN in 2016.

As competition heightens in the digital payments and RegTech industry, this incident reinforces the critical importance of compliance automation, regulatory monitoring, and adherence to Nigeria’s financial regulatory framework. The CBN’s action signals a broader move toward tightening oversight and promoting responsible innovation within the financial technology space.