In September 2024, Peerless launched SeaBaas, a homegrown alternative to the legacy core banking systems that have long dominated Africa’s financial sector. One year later, the platform has processed over two billion transactions, saved financial institutions over $10 million in operational costs, and is already powering banks and pensions, serving more than five million end users.
Peerless’ key message is that Africa can build enterprise-grade financial technology that rivals anything in the world.
Why SeaBaas exists
For decades, Africa’s financial institutions have depended on foreign-owned core banking software. They are powerful, but not designed to suit the realities that Africans experience. These platforms demand millions of dollars in licensing fees, charge annual maintenance in foreign currency, and require an army of costly consultants to operate. Add in their heavy on-premise infrastructure and rigid architectures, and banks are left paying what some executives describe as an innovation tax to roll out new products.
Currency devaluation can inflate IT budgets overnight in Nigerian banks, and the high cost of running these systems often translates into high cost-to-serve for customers, making it difficult for banks to profitably reach the unbanked.
SeaBaas was built as the antidote to these problems. Cloud-native, API-first, and designed with African regulators and realities in mind, the platform offers a competitive licencing-based model in local currency, rapid product launches powered by microservices, and seamless integration with fintechs.
SeaBaas gives financial institutions technological sovereignty and is positioned to support the pace of innovation of any segment of financial institutions, particularly banks with legacy core infrastructure looking to be modernised. It also supports fintechs ready to innovate fast without long legacy costs.
Year one by the numbers
The results from SeaBaas’ first year are compelling:
- 2+ billion transactions processed
- $10 million in operational savings delivered to financial institutions
- 5 million+ end-users served, a 150% growth from launch
- 101.67% growth in customer balances
- 60% reduction in transaction processing times
- 100% system uptime
Deployments at Sterling Bank and ARM Pensions provided the strongest validation yet that an African-built system could power institutions at scale with resilience and reliability.
Beyond banking costs: Financial inclusion at scale
One of SeaBaas’ biggest promises lies in inclusion. By lowering the cost-to-serve, banks can profitably offer accounts and products to customers at the bottom of the pyramid. Its unified customer data model also gives institutions a real-time, 360-degree view of each client, enabling personalisation that was once prohibitively complex.
The implications are far-reaching: millions of more bankable customers, new products launched in weeks (not months), and greater competitiveness in an increasingly fintech-driven ecosystem.
Designed in Africa, for Africa
SeaBaas demonstrates that Africa can build globally competitive, enterprise-grade platforms for CEOs and decision-makers. By eliminating exposure to foreign exchange volatility, cutting operational costs, and enabling faster innovation, SeaBaas is positioned as a strategy in itself.
And for developers and startups, it is proof of what is possible. SeaBaas is a challenge to Africa’s tech community to dream and build bigger.
Next steps
Peerless isn’t slowing down. From two successful deployments in its first year, the company wants to power ten or more financial institutions in year two. Expansion into other African and global markets is already in motion, supported by investment in indigenous talent and regional presence.
The company has also started rolling out complementary products:
- Mizan – A modern Islamic core banking application aligned with ethical and non-interest banking principles.
- Kusala – A workflow automation tool that enables businesses to be more efficient with their approval processes and documentation.
- Xplorer CRM – A customer management tool aligned with CBN’s Case Management Reporting and Customer Management Requirements.
Each new product underscores Peerless’s mission to give Businesses in Africa a competitive edge to be truly peerless.
The bigger picture
Africa can own its financial technology stack, reduce reliance on costly foreign systems, and chart a future where innovation is faster, cheaper, and closer to the realities of its people. SeaBaas is proof of that.
With billions of transactions already processed and millions of customers impacted, Peerless insists this is only the beginning.
