OPay Leads Nigerian Smartphone Finance Apps, KPMG Finds

In Short

• OPay has the highest install presence among financial apps on Nigerian smartphones in a new KPMG study.
• The study found OPay on 69% of surveyed devices, far ahead of any single bank app.
• PalmPay came next at 29%, with Access Bank leading banks at 16%.

What Happened

A new report by KPMG and Orange Group Nigeria says OPay is the most common financial app on Nigerian smartphones surveyed. The study checked which apps were installed on respondents’ phones across 12 major Nigerian cities.

KPMG said OPay appeared on 69% of the smartphones reviewed. That is more than four times the install rate of Access Bank, the most present traditional bank app in the study at 16%.

Other fintech apps also placed strongly. PalmPay showed up on 29% of surveyed phones. Moniepoint was on 14%, while Kuda was on 8%. PayPal appeared on 7%.

Traditional banks still showed wide distribution across devices. After Access Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and GTBank were each present on 11% of phones. FirstBank was on 10%, and Zenith Bank was on 9%.

KPMG linked the shift to smartphones becoming a primary channel for daily transactions like transfers, bill payments, airtime purchases, and account management. It also noted that smartphone ownership rose from 64% in 2023 to 75% in 2025.

Why It Matters

Install presence is not the same as active usage, but it is a strong signal of mindshare and distribution. If fintech apps are more likely to be on a user’s home screen than a single bank app, they can become the default place for payments and everyday money management.

For banks, the numbers point to a competition shift from branch footprint to mobile experience, reliability, and feature depth. For fintech operators, it raises the bar on trust, fraud controls, and service uptime as more Nigerians depend on app-based payments.

For investors and operators, the data suggests Nigeria’s consumer finance battle is being fought on devices, and the winners are the apps that combine fast payments, broad merchant acceptance, and simple onboarding.