E-Financial
DLM Capital Group Announces Winner for its 2021 Pegasus Fintech Challenge

DLM Capital Group, Developmental Investment institution, through its digital banking subsidiary “SOFRI” has announced EazyChange as the winner of the first edition of its Fintech pitch competition tagged- Pegasus Fintech Challenge.
The front runner EazyChange who emerged winner is a fintech startup with focus on creating easy cash payments for transportation in Nigeria. OgaPOS emerged as the first runner up, EsusuAfrica as second runner up and Friendsvow as the third runner up.
The pitch event which was held on Wednesday 28th of July 2021 at the DLM Capital Group headquarters in Ikoyi saw the finalists present their pitches to the panel of judges which consisted of the Group CEO, DLM Capital Group, Sonnie Ayere; Managing Director of Links Microfinance Bank, Funsho Idowu; Chief Executive Officer of Cowrywise, Razaq Ahmed; Chief Operating Officer of TeamApt, Tobi Amira; Team lead Design and Innovation Lab at Africa Fintech Foundry (AFF), Omolola Tunde-Alade; and Senior M&A Executive at Interswitch Group, Victor Sada who represented the Group’s CEO, Mitchell Elegbe.
TeamApt’s COO, Tobi Amira expressed his satisfaction with DLM Capital for organizing the challenge. “It was a delight to sit as a member of the judging panel for the 2021 Pegasus Fintech challenge. The program aligns with our objective as an organization to encourage innovation and creativity in the Nigerian fintech landscape.
“It was particularly exciting to see and listen to young Nigerian founders who have come together to build solutions aimed at improving the lives of individuals and businesses in Nigeria for the better.
“I must also commend the organizers of this pitch for making an effort to promote and encourage innovation through funding and support. It’s our hope that the winners would put the funds to good use and bring all their fantastic ideas to reality”.
Funsho Idowu, the Managing Director of Links Microfinance Bank, commented in his closing remarks that the ‘Pegasus Fintech Challenge was a huge success, and we are happy to provide this support to fintech startups in Nigeria as a way of enabling growth in the industry. We look forward to hosting subsequent editions with strategic partnerships from other players in Nigeria’s financial sector.’
The Pegasus Fintech Challenge was executed in partnership with tech accelerator, African Fintech Foundry and is a part of DLM Capital’s commitment to accelerate seed funding and investments in the Nigerian fintech space. The Fintech pitch event had 35 submissions where the top 5 finalists emerged for the pitch day event.
E-Financial
GTCO to Become First Nigerian Bank to List on London Stock Exchange

By 8 am on July 9, GTCO Holdings is set to commence trading on the London Stock Exchange.
As the group is set to list all its shares on the London Stock Exchange, becoming the first Nigerian banking entity to do so.
This is as the group launches a public offer of new ordinary shares to raise approximately $100 million on the London Stock Exchange.
The equity offering, which is an accelerated bookbuild and managed by Citigroup, began on July 2 and is to last until July 31.
On July 31, the group announced that it would cancel the listing of its Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) on the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Official List.
It will also cancel their admission to trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE)’s main market.
In place of the GDRs, the group will list all its ordinary shares directly.
aims to admit all its shares to the equity shares category for international commercial companies under a secondary listing on the FCA’s Official List.
The shares will also begin trading on the LSE’s main market for listed securities.
According to a regulatory filing on the London Stock Exchange, the net proceeds from the offering will be used to recapitalize GTBank Nigeria.
Based on the prevailing exchange rate of N1,540 to the US dollar, the targeted $100 million equates to approximately N154 billion.
This capital raise is expected to position the Group to fully meet the N500 billion minimum paid-up share capital required by regulators for banks with international licenses.
As of now, both Zenith Bank and Access Holdings have already met—and exceeded—this threshold.
E-Financial
NAICOM Issues New Licenses to SanlamAllianz Life, General Insurance

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has handed over new licenses to SanlamAllianz Life and General Insurance Nigeria Ltd at brief ceremony held in Abuja.
Olusegun Omosehin, commissioner for Insurance emphasized the Commission’s commitment to supporting the growth of insurance entities in the country, while ensuring strict compliance with regulatory requirements. He urged the companies to prioritize good corporate governance, stability, and timely claims settlement processes.
The Commissioner reiterated NAICOM’s dedication to removing unnecessary bottlenecks and improving the insurance industry’s overall performance. He expressed confidence that the merger would enhance the companies’ capabilities and contribute to the industry’s growth.
SanlamAllianz recently launched its operations in Nigeria, marking a significant step in the company’s Pan-African expansion.
The launch follows the merger of Sanlam and Allianz’s Nigerian operations, creating a new entity named SanlamAllianz Nigeria.
This joint venture aims to transform the Nigerian insurance landscape by offering enhanced customer experiences, innovative solutions, and improved financial inclusion.
E-Financial
World Bank Approves Extra $65m for Nigeria’s SPESSE

World Bank has approved an additional $65 million loan for Nigeria to support the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental, and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) project, increasing the total financing for the initiative to $145 million.
The approval was granted on June 24, 2025, according to details posted on the World Bank’s website, which also indicates that the project’s status has moved to “active” following the approval.
The SPESSE project, initially launched with an $80 million loan approved in February 2020, aims to strengthen institutional capacity for managing procurement, environmental, and social standards in both the public and private sectors across Nigeria.
The World Bank described the project’s development objective as the establishment of sustainable capacity in these areas.
This latest approval is part of a broader wave of financing expected from the World Bank to Nigeria in 2025.
The bank is scheduled to approve loans totalling $1.61 billion over the coming months, supporting various development initiatives.
Among these is a $300 million loan for the ‘Solutions for the Internally Displaced and Host Communities Project,’ expected to be finalised by the end of July.
This project aims to improve access to basic services and economic opportunities for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities in selected local government areas in northern Nigeria.
In September, the World Bank plans to approve four additional loans: a $10.5 million facility to support technical assistance for the Central Bank of Nigeria, a $300 million Health Security Program targeting Western and Central Africa (Nigeria – Phase IV), a $500 million project for building resilient digital infrastructure (BRIDGE), and a $500 million loan under the Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value-Chains for Growth project aimed at promoting sustainable growth and job creation within key agricultural sectors.
Earlier in March 2025, the bank approved three financing requests amounting to $1.13 billion.
These funds are directed towards projects focused on enhancing quality education, boosting household and community resilience, and improving nutrition.
Among the approved loans were $80 million for the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria 2.0 project, $552 million for the HOPE for Quality Basic Education for All programme, and $500 million for the Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus Programme.
In February, the Nigerian government announced expectations of new World Bank loans totalling $2.2 billion for six different projects in 2025. This follows a $1.5 billion loan disbursed in 2024 aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s economic stability and resource mobilisation efforts.
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