It has been just a few years since OPay had been in the limelight of the financial technology platforms, and its surge and transformation have been so explosive, with over 40 million users across the country and a monthly transaction volume crossing $5 billion. Opay is no longer just a digital wallet; it is now a fintech powerhouse.
But behind the scenes of this explosive growth lie calculated fusions of local infrastructure like the AfriGO card, AI integration, and cloud-based computing.
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3 Powerful Tools That Make Opay Stand Out
AFRIGO: It is a domestically developed card scheme made for the Nigerian payment ecosystem. Unlike Visa and Mastercard. It was launched by the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS). AfriGO transactions are processed locally, offering cost savings, speed, and control.
In November 2024, OPay announced a strategic collaboration with AfriGO Card, the domestic card scheme from NIBSS. This integration was meant to help reduce foreign exchange dependency in card transactions, enhance data sovereignty, and broaden access to secure card payments, especially for merchants and everyday consumers across Nigeria.
The Opay/afriGO collaboration is meant to help facilitate rapid scaling and to also ensure that easy payment solutions are possible and also available across Nigeria.
AfriGO shows its strong support for local startups and creating solutions that truly meet the needs of Nigerians. By teaming up with AfriGO, OPay is really showing its commitment to giving millions of customers faster and better ways to make payments.
The new Opay and AfrigGO card, launched with AFSL, is expected to help more people start using digital payment by offering a safe, Nigerian-based option instead of foreign cards. As Opay continues to grow, this partnership will play an important role in the future of how people make transactions in Nigeria and also help reduce costs, protect user data, and support Nigeria’s local fintech developments.
AI Adoption: Since Opay adopted AI, they have delivered intelligent and automated services to secure their everyday transactions.
Artificial intelligence (AI) means using a computer to think and also to make smart decisions automatically.
Opay uses AI to do certain tasks or commands like;
- Check if a customer is real (KYC verification)
- Stop fraud before it happens.
- Suggest savings and airtime plans based on consecutive habitual use.
- Offer loans based on how users spend money.
For example, if someone tries to move a huge sum of money late at night from a new phone, the app might flag or block it to protect the owner. Some other times, if someone is trying to transfer a huge sum for the first time, the app will seek extra verification details to be sure it is the owner making the transactions.
There are also some personalized experiences OPay gives to their users, like in situations where it reminds users to top up airtime or data when data or airtime balances are low; sometimes it suggests to the user to save money, while other times it could be when it has to warn the user of overspend the money, these are all smart experiences OPay offers to their users.
A big advantage of the use of AI with fintech companies and its utilization on smartphones is the possibility of a user using biometrics to access their accounts. Opay has been able to adapt this use case perfectly in situations where you can use your fingerprints, face recognition, and even voice control to access your Opay account easily.
A lot of people might find this questionable, considering the flexibility and easy use case of this huge technology.
Cloud technology: Opay now uses something called cloud technology, with help from a company called “Huawei Cloud.” This simply means that instead of keeping all their computers and data in one place, OPay now stores and runs everything online using big, safe servers.
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What Users Should Expect from Opay’s Cloud Technology Adoption
- Speed: Before, the app could slow down when a lot of people were using it at the same time, but now, because of the cloud technology, OPay can handle millions of people at the same time without problems. So even when it’s month-end and a lot of people are transferring money at the same time, the app will still run fast without any problem.
- Limited Downtime: Sometimes apps don’t open or take a long time to load; this is called downtime. With the help of cloud support, OPay has fewer problems like that. You can open the app and send money and buy airtime and data quickly and easily, even when busy, without or with a slight delay.
- Security: Huawei Cloud helps OPay keep your information safe; that means your name, phone number, bank details, and passwords are all protected. Hackers ’ scammers cannot steal your data because it is locked with strong security systems, and even when anything goes wrong, which is almost impossible, Opay keeps a backup copy so nothing is lost.
- Developing Growth: As more people use OPay, the app needs to get stronger. Cloud technology helps OPay grow automatically. That means that it automatically adjusts its space and power as more users join.
A lot of people without smartphones might think they are not benefactors of this financial technology because they probably do not have smartphones or they think that without wifi or mobile data, they cannot use this advanced technology.
Here is the good news: with the OPay short code, you can easily access most activities that operate with the fintech technology using the USSD short codes.
and these USSD transactions are performed cheaply or freely.
The USSD code is (*955#).
Examples of such transactions can be buying airtime for personal use; the short code for that is (*955*3*amount#); buying data with the short code; the code for that is (*955*4*mobile no#); transferring cash with the USSD code; the code for that is (*955*2*amount#); paying the electricity bill; the code for that is (*955*6#); and the list goes on.
Hidden Benefit of Using the Opay Fintech App
Referral Bonuses: OPay has a rewarding system used in rewarding old users who invite new users to use the OPay fintech bank app.
Cash Back Bonus: Using the OPay app has various benefits, and one of them is the cash back bonus. These bonuses are gotten when users either make a transfer, recharge airtime, or buy data on the OPay app.
Friday Freebies: This bonus can be obtained when an individual checks in to the app daily and consistently for seven days, after which the user can now get a Friday Freebies voucher.
Instant Loan: OPay Fintech has partnered with EaseMoni to give its users instant accessible loans for a convenient duration of time.
Instant Bill Payment: With the OPay fintech app, you can make an instant payment for your bill payment, such as electricity, solar, waste bill, government payment, TV subscriptions, etc.
Safe Box: The Opay fintech app has a safe box for flexible and fixed savings where the user has various opportunities to choose the kind of saving method he prefers. Examples of the safe box savings are the daily auto save, fixed auto save, spend and save, and target save.
With this updated information you have gotten concerning the Opay fintech, how long do you see Opay dominating the financial technology companies in Africa, and what other fintech companies do you think can stand a chance to outscale Opay’s technology? Discuss in the comment section below.
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