Hydrogen leads Q1 profit growth among bank-owned fintechs

Access Holdings’ fintech subsidiary, Hydrogen, has recorded the highest nett maturation among Nigerian bank-owned outgo companies successful the archetypal 4th of 2025, overtaking long-time person HabariPay, the fintech limb of Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) successful Nigeria’s progressively competitory integer payments space.

According to the banking group’s latest fiscal statements published connected the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), Hydrogen’s after-tax nett surged by 466% to ₦283 cardinal ($178,344) successful Q1 2025, up from ₦50 cardinal ($31,509) successful the aforesaid play of 2024. GTCO’s HabariPay posted a nett maturation of 52%, rising to ₦1.66 cardinal ($1.1 million) from ₦1.09 cardinal ($686,910). 

Stanbic IBTC’s Zest Payments, however, widened its nonaccomplishment to ₦508 cardinal ($320,138) successful Q1, compared to ₦436 cardinal ($274,764) a twelvemonth earlier.

Hydrogen’s beardown commencement to the twelvemonth comes astatine a clip erstwhile autarkic fintechs similar Flutterwave are nether pressure to crook profits, and Paystack contends with regulatory pressure. By contrast, bank-backed fintechs similar Hydrogen and HabariPay are gaining ground, relying connected ample lawsuit ecosystems, beardown compliance channels, and robust superior bases.

While Hydrogen and HabariPay’s combined Q1 profits relationship for conscionable 0.44% of their genitor groups’ full nett of ₦440.8 cardinal ($277.7 million), that borderline has much than doubled from the 0.19% recorded successful Q1 2024, signaling increasing relevance wrong the banking groups’ gross mix.

“Hydrogen is leveraging Access Holdings’ extended ecosystem of astir 65 cardinal customers to thrust worth creation,” said Roosevelt Ogbonna, CEO of Access Bank, during the group’s capitalist telephone connected April 23.

Ogbonna added that the synergy with the genitor institution is expected to output semipermanent returns. “Projections for 2025 are robust, and the concern is already showing beardown momentum successful H1. While Nigeria is our launchpad, Hydrogen has pan-African ambitions.”

Hydrogen’s merchandise play and strategical push

An Access Holdings spokesperson told TechCabal that the motorboat of the Hydrogen Payment Gateway successful 2024, alongside enhancements successful outgo paper security, fueled transaction maturation crossed switching, merchant collection, and outgo infrastructure services.

Hydrogen processed ₦49.1 trillion ($30.6 billion) successful payments successful 2024, a 313% summation from the erstwhile year, and generated ₦10.3 cardinal ($6.4 million) successful revenue.

“This maturation underscores the shifting dynamics successful Nigeria’s fiscal services space, wherever banks and fintechs are evolving from rivals to collaborators,” the spokesperson said.

How regularisation spurred the bank-fintech pivot

The emergence of bank-owned fintech arms similar Hydrogen and HabariPay follows the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s 2010 directive requiring commercialized banks to restructure into holding companies to connection non-banking services similar payments. 

This regulatory determination paved the mode for accepted banks to rotation disconnected licensed fintech subsidiaries and vie much straight with autarkic players similar Flutterwave, Paystack, Opay, and Moniepoint.

GTCO was the archetypal Tier-1 slope to respond, launching HabariPay successful June 2022. Since then, it has go a profitable fintech focused connected SMEs and retailers, offering outgo postulation done its Squad level via POS, USSD, virtual accounts, and web gateways.

Access Holdings followed with Hydrogen successful September 2022, initially positioning it arsenic a backend infrastructure supplier serving different fintechs, banks, and telcos, alternatively than a direct-to-consumer player. When it launched, the steadfast reported a ₦612 cardinal ($ 386,308) nonaccomplishment successful Q1 2023 but swung to profitability by Q4 of that year.

Despite Hydrogen’s nett surge, HabariPay remains Nigeria’s astir profitable bank-owned fintech. But the contention is tightening arsenic some platforms standard rapidly.

“Mostly, they conscionable leverage their existing users to follow their fintechs,” said Babatunde Akin-Moses, CEO of lending startup Sycamore.

In 2024, HabariPay processed ₦27.4 trillion ($17.1 billion) successful transactions, representing a 124.6% year-on-year increase. During GTCO’s April capitalist telephone connected April 3, Segun Agbaje, GTCO’s  Group CEO, said the institution volition treble down connected PoS terminal deployments to grow Squad’s scope successful 2025.

“Our concern successful exertion has importantly increased,” Agbaje said. “ While we’ve ever acknowledged its importance, we’re present accelerating our efforts—and it’s intelligibly starting to wage off.”

Outlook: Can Hydrogen drawback up to HabariPay?

Analysts accidental if Hydrogen maintains its existent trajectory, it could look arsenic Nigeria’s astir profitable bank-owned fintech by the extremity of 2025, perchance overtaking HabariPay.

“Hydrogen is simply a beardown contender successful the fintech space, showing awesome maturation and surpassing cardinal competitors,” said Abimbola Adewale, a Lagos-based analyst. “Its expanding lawsuit basal and transaction measurement constituent to a coagulated semipermanent outlook.”

As bequest banks alteration into digital-first players, Hydrogen’s breakout 4th could people the opening of a caller signifier successful Nigeria’s fintech wars—where equilibrium expanse spot and regulatory alignment go captious differentiators.

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