Nigerian fintech company Nomba and tier-3 commercial bank Globus Bank have revealed that their 18-month credit partnership has disbursed ₦21.3 billion ($15.3 million) to Nigerian businesses, with less than 1% of those loans classified as non-performing.
The lending, which spans wholesale and retail, professional services, food and hospitality, oil and gas, and fast-moving consumer goods, stands in stark contrast to the broader trajectory of bad loans in Nigeria’s banking industry, where non-performing loans rose from 4.2% in early 2023 to an estimated 7% by the end of 2025, driven largely by currency devaluations, inflation, and mounting economic pressures that have made repayment increasingly difficult for borrowers.
The partnership’s performance is particularly notable given the harsh realities of loan recovery in Nigeria’s digital lending space, where defaulting borrowers often face relentless phone calls, frozen accounts, and public shaming, prompting the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to introduce fines of up to ₦100 million or 1% of annual turnover for lenders who resort to harassment and intimidation.
Central to the partnership’s model is a departure from traditional credit assessment methods that rely on financial statements and fixed collateral. Instead, Nomba underwrites loans based on the real-time transaction data that businesses generate on its platform, giving it direct visibility into revenue flows, settlement patterns, operational cycles, and cost structures. Of over 600,000 businesses banked on Nomba’s platform, only approximately 20,000 are considered credit-eligible, and the company currently serves roughly 10% of that pool.
Eligible businesses must be formally registered, generate steady transaction volumes, possess sufficient history on the platform, and demonstrate an understanding of debt obligations. Credit facilities are sized at approximately 1% of a business’s annual revenue to ensure repayment obligations do not strain daily operations, while borrowers are continuously monitored on a rolling 30-day basis to detect revenue deterioration before it materialises into missed payments. “That number did not happen by accident,” said Yinka Adewale, chief executive officer of Nomba, referring to the sub-1% NPL ratio. “It happened because we built underwriting infrastructure that actually works.”
A second pillar of the model is what both partners describe as digitised collateral, comprising a mix of inventory tied to specific loan use cases, digital assets such as stocks or stablecoins, and semi-liquid physical assets, all pledged at origination and tied to the credit facility through legal documentation. Given the volatility of digital assets, borrowers are required to provide a 30% cash collateral cover upfront, creating a buffer against sudden value drops.
However, the model’s strength is simultaneously its most apparent limitation. Creditworthiness assessment and collateral management work best when a merchant’s financial activity runs primarily through Nomba, meaning cash-heavy businesses or those operating across multiple platforms are less likely to qualify due to thinner data trails. The sub-1% loan performance may also be shaped significantly by what the model excludes, given that only a narrow segment of businesses ultimately receives credit from the partnership.
Under the partnership’s structure, Globus Bank provides the capital and operates within its lending licence, while Nomba controls the entire credit layer, from borrower identification and underwriting to real-time monitoring, collateral management, and repayment administration, bearing the greater share of risk.
Looking ahead, Nomba has signalled plans to expand the credit model into other sectors through additional institutional partnerships, including commercial banks and development finance institutions, with priority expansion into logistics, healthcare, and manufacturing. Whether the model can scale beyond its tightly controlled merchant base without compromising its remarkably clean NPL record remains the critical question that the next phase of partnerships will ultimately have to answer.