GTCO Says Fintech Threat No Longer a Concern as HabariPay Posts Strong Growth

Group Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Segun Agbaje, says the group is no longer worried about competition from fintech companies following the rapid growth of its digital payments subsidiary, HabariPay.

Agbaje made the disclosure during an interview on the sidelines of the company’s Annual General Meeting in Lagos, where he highlighted the increasing contribution of the group’s non-banking subsidiaries to overall earnings performance.

According to him, GTCO initially viewed the rise of fintech operators as a major threat to the traditional banking model but responded by building its own digital payments platform to compete within the evolving financial technology ecosystem.

“Everybody was really nervous about fintech, so we built our own speed boat. That’s Habari,” Agbaje said.

“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,” he added.

HabariPay recorded a profit of N9.7 billion in the 2025 financial year, emerging as the strongest-performing non-banking subsidiary within the GTCO group structure.

Agbaje described 2025 as a strong year for the financial group, noting that earnings quality remained solid despite macroeconomic challenges and market volatility.

“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.

He added that the company’s long-term strategy was beginning to deliver measurable results, especially after earlier scepticism from investors regarding the stock’s growth prospects.

“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,” Agbaje stated.

The GTCO chief executive disclosed that fintech, asset management, and pension businesses emerged as the group’s three most profitable non-bank subsidiaries during the 2025 financial year.

Besides HabariPay’s N9.7 billion profit, Guaranty Trust Fund Managers recorded N9 billion in earnings, while Guaranty Trust Pension Managers generated N1.7 billion.

According to Agbaje, the group’s strategy is increasingly focused on building an integrated financial ecosystem capable of delivering multiple streams of income beyond traditional commercial banking.

“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,” he added.

Agbaje also highlighted the growing contribution of GTCO’s international operations to overall profitability, noting that non-Nigerian operations accounted for 27 per cent of group profit in 2025, while Nigeria contributed the remaining 73 per cent.

He identified Ghana as one of the group’s strongest-performing international markets and said the company’s regional diversification strategy would help reduce exposure to Nigeria’s sovereign risk environment.

“We’re diversifying the earnings from outside of Nigeria, but Nigeria is still the mothership,” Agbaje 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,” he added.

On the pension business, Agbaje said GTCO was adopting a gradual growth strategy because of the long-term and fee-based structure of the industry.

“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.

Agbaje also reaffirmed the group’s commitment to maintaining strong dividend payouts following its recent N500 billion capital raise.

“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,” he added.

The comments come as Nigerian banks continue expanding into fintech, pension management, payments, and wealth management businesses in response to rising digital adoption and changing consumer preferences within the financial sector.