Standard Bank Eyes OPay Stake Ahead of $4B US IPO as Nigerian Fintech Enters Institutional Phase

Standard Bank Group, Africa's largest lender by assets, is in talks to acquire a pre-IPO stake in OPay ahead of its planned US listing at a $4 billion valuation. This is the clearest signal yet that Nigeria's fintech ecosystem has crossed from startup disruption to institutional validation. Standard Bank's R26.1 billion ($1.59 billion) in H1 2026 headline earnings gives it the firepower to buy into the future—OPay's 50 million users and ubiquitous green POS devices make it the...