According to GTCO’s half-year financial statements, Habari Pay reported a profit of ₦1.3 billion after tax. A breakdown of GTCO’s operating segments shows retail banking is its second-biggest revenue-generating segment.
Habari Pay, the fintech arm of Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), posted profits of ₦1.3 billion in the first half of 2023. That’s a 312% jump compared to the previous year, according to GTCO’s half-year financial statements. Habari Pay’s growth shows promising adoption of the bank’s digital payments business as it looks to bolster its hold on the fintech sector. The fintech arm closed June 2023 with a cash balance of ₦3.6 billion.
GTCO launched Habari in 2018 as a super-app that provides everything from streaming content to an e-commerce marketplace. The bank, with its ecosystem of small business customers, wanted to create a marketplace hub to support vendors across different industries. Though it was created by one of Nigeria’s biggest banks, it didn’t focus on providing banking services, and it struggled to gain traction among digital users.
But in 2020, the lender announced its broader push into digital payments with a corporate restructuring that would make Habari a separate company wholly owned by the bank. In June 2021, Guaranty Trust Bank transitioned into a holding company from its standalone commercial banking structure. It made Habari Pay a standalone business offering payments, a marketplace, and small business services. HabariPay’s flagship product, Squad, combines a payment gateway and e-commerce platform with a Point-of-Sale business.
Habari Pay recorded a profit-after-tax of ₦836 million last year, according to GTCO’s 2022 financial report. The two-year-old Habari Pay competes with established payment providers like eTranzact and Moniepoint. eTranzact profits rose to ₦1.01 billion in the first half of 2023—representing a 149% increase compared to the previous year. TechCabal Insights projects that the transaction value of the Nigerian digital payments market will reach N580 billion by the end of the year.
Retail banking is GTCO’s second-largest revenue-generating segment
GTBank, the holding company’s commercial bank, reports performance across six segments—corporate banking, commercial banking, business banking, retail banking, SME banking, and public sector banking. Per the financial statements, the corporate banking segment reported ₦118.5 billion in revenue, followed by retail banking with ₦72.8 billion, representing 67.6% of the revenue and 20.5%, respectively. Similarly, the corporate banking segment declared a profit-after-tax of ₦47.9 billion, while the retail banking segment recorded ₦19.1 billion.
One thing is clear: GTCO will continue to bet on its market relevance to compete with other large banks and fintechs such as Palmpay, Kuda, and Fairmoney. With the entrance of Moniepoint, formerly TeamApt, the retail banking market is expected to become more competitive.
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