African fintech Nomba has acquired a licensed Payment Service Provider and Money Services Business in Canada, giving the company regulated infrastructure to support business-to-business payments between African companies and Canadian partners.
The acquisition, completed in Q2 2025, provides Nomba with on-the-ground regulatory coverage in Canada. This allows the fintech to move money locally within the country and connect Canadian dollar flows directly into African markets. Nomba said it has invested about $2 million into the acquired entity to strengthen infrastructure and scale operations.
Moving beyond remittances to trade payments
Unlike many cross-border payment platforms serving Africa that focus mainly on consumer remittances, Nomba is targeting trade-related payment flows. Its customers include exporters, importers, professional services firms, and multinational suppliers operating between Africa and North America.
These businesses are active across sectors such as oil and gas services, commodities, FMCG imports, and technology, where Africa–Canada trade is already significant but often hampered by slow and costly payment processes.
Local CAD accounts and faster settlement
With the new infrastructure, African businesses can hold local Canadian dollar (CAD) accounts, receive payments directly from Canadian counterparties, and settle funds into Nigerian naira and other African currencies.
Nomba says the system enables near-real-time cross-border payments while reducing reliance on correspondent banks. The company claims foreign exchange and transaction cost savings of between 40 and 60 per cent compared to traditional banking networks.
“Cross-border trade payments for African businesses are still built on infrastructure that was never designed for speed or transparency,” said Yinka Adewale, CEO of Nomba. “Owning regulated infrastructure allows us to remove layers of complexity and give businesses predictable, reliable rails they can build on.”
Early traction and use cases
Nomba processed $3.4 million through its Canadian infrastructure in January 2026 alone. One early customer, a Nigerian oil and gas services company billing Canadian clients on a recurring basis, previously faced settlement delays of three to five business days, opaque exchange rates, and manual reconciliation.
Using Nomba’s platform, the company now operates a dedicated CAD account with same-day settlement, improving cash flow and operational efficiency.
“For businesses, reliability matters more than novelty,” Adewale said. “They want payments to settle when expected and funds to be usable immediately.”
Linked to Nomba’s DRC expansion
The Canadian acquisition is strategically linked to Nomba’s recent expansion into the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The company went live in the DRC in November 2025 after building agent networks in Kinshasa and has since secured regulatory approval for international money transfers.
Nomba describes the DRC as a strategic control point for cross-border B2B payments across both Francophone and Anglophone Africa, particularly given the country’s role in global commodity supply chains.
Building regulated rails on both ends
By owning regulatory licences and infrastructure in both Canada and the DRC, Nomba says it can now offer local-currency accounts, transparent pricing, and same-day settlement for businesses trading between the two markets.
Canadian companies are active buyers of minerals and commodities from the DRC, a trade corridor that has historically suffered from fragmented payment rails and settlement delays of up to a week.
“From a regulatory standpoint, all FX operations run through our Canadian entity,” Adewale said. “That means businesses are accessing fully licensed, compliant cross-border banking infrastructure.”
A broader global ambition
Nomba says the Canada corridor is the first of several international markets where it plans to establish regulated infrastructure to support African trade. The fintech claims to already process trillions of naira annually across payments, banking, and cross-border flows.
“Africa to Canada is live,” Adewale said. “Africa to the rest of the world is next.”
