OPay, the payments app used by tens of millions of Nigerians, plans to list its shares on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) after its planned debut on the New York Stock Exchange. Nairametrics first reported the plan, which appears in the company’s registration statement (Form F-1) filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 9 October.
“We have obtained the approval of our board and shareholders to pursue a secondary listing” on the NGX, the filing says.
It’s an important detail for Nigerian investors. A New York listing in dollars is out of reach for most people here. A Lagos listing in naira would not be.
Where things stand
| Detail | What the filing and reports say |
|---|---|
| Primary listing | New York Stock Exchange, ticker OPAY, as American Depositary Shares (ADSs) |
| Status of the US IPO | Filed on 9 October 2026. Price range, number of shares and trading date not yet set |
| Secondary listing | Nigerian Exchange, after the NYSE listing |
| Approvals so far | OPay’s board and shareholders |
| Still needed | Nigerian regulatory approvals, NGX requirements and suitable market conditions |
| NGX date | None announced |
| Lead banks on the US deal | Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Standard Bank and CICC, among others named on the filing |
| Reported valuation target | About $4 billion (from earlier reporting, not the filing) |
Important: the New York listing has not happened yet. OPay has filed to go public, but the shares are not trading. The NGX listing would come after that.
Why OPay wants a Nigerian listing
Nigeria is OPay’s business. According to the filing, Nigeria generated 88.1% of OPay’s revenue in 2025 and 89.5% in the first half of 2026, even though the company also operates in Egypt, Pakistan and Indonesia.
The filing’s numbers show how big the company has become:
| Metric (2025) | Figure |
|---|---|
| Revenue | $536.3 million (up from $205.7 million in 2024) |
| Net income | $72.5 million (from a $50.8 million loss in 2024) |
| Monthly active users | 39.3 million |
| Gross transaction value | $358 billion |
| Transactions | 62.3 billion |
A Nigerian listing lets the customers, agents and merchants who built that business own a piece of it. It can also strengthen OPay’s relationship with Nigerian regulators and give local pension funds and asset managers a way to invest in one of the country’s biggest fintechs.
The Standard Bank link
The filing also shows a strong Nigerian banking connection. Stanbic Africa Holdings, part of South Africa’s Standard Bank Group, the parent of Nigeria’s Stanbic IBTC, has agreed to buy OPay shares alongside the IPO in a private placement. The investment is capped at the lowest of $200 million, 0.98% of Standard Bank Group’s qualifying regulatory capital, or 4.99% of OPay after the offering. Those shares can’t be sold for 12 months.
OPay and Stanbic also signed a non-binding agreement in August 2026 to explore working together on digital banking, payments and lending.
How a secondary listing works
A secondary listing means a company already listed on one exchange also lists on another. OPay’s main listing would be in New York; the NGX listing would be additional.
Nigeria has seen this before:
- Seplat Energy listed on both the Nigerian and London stock exchanges in 2014.
- Airtel Africa listed in London and Lagos in 2019.
The catch OPay itself highlights
The filing warns that OPay’s NGX-listed securities “may not be fungible with or exchangeable into” its New York ADSs unless arrangements are put in place to move shares between the two markets.
In plain English: a share bought in Lagos might not be easily converted into a share traded in New York, or the other way round. That could mean:
- Different prices in Lagos and New York for what is essentially the same company
- Thinner trading on one market, making it harder to buy or sell quickly
- No guarantee of an active NGX market, which OPay also acknowledges
The filing also cites Nigeria’s Investments and Securities Act, 2025, and the NGX Rulebook among the rules any Nigerian listing must follow.
What this means for Nigerians
If you want to invest
- Wait for official details. No NGX listing date, price or structure has been announced. Be wary of anyone selling “pre-IPO OPay shares” on WhatsApp, Telegram or Instagram. That is a common scam pattern.
- Use licensed brokers. When a listing happens, buy only through a stockbroker registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Nigeria, and check the details on the NGX and SEC websites.
- Read the documents. Any Nigerian offer or listing will come with official disclosures. They are long, but they explain the risks.
- Understand the risks. New listings can be volatile, and the fungibility issue above may affect prices and liquidity on the NGX.
If you use OPay
Nothing changes in the app for now. Wallets, transfers, POS services and loans continue as normal. A listing affects who owns the company, not how your account works. Being public does, however, bring more disclosure, so customers will see more regular information about OPay’s performance and risks.
For Nigeria’s capital market
A successful OPay listing would add one of Nigeria’s largest tech companies to the NGX, alongside banks, telecoms and industrial firms. It could encourage other Nigerian fintechs to consider listing at home rather than only abroad.
What about Ghana and Kenya?
OPay’s filing doesn’t list Ghana or Kenya among its current markets. For investors there, the New York listing would be the main route once trading begins. Kenya’s Safaricom and Ghana’s MTN listings show how a widely used local tech or telecoms company can become one of a home exchange’s most traded stocks, which is the kind of outcome a Lagos listing would aim for.
What to watch next
- US IPO pricing: the price range and trading date in New York.
- Nigerian approvals: filings with the SEC Nigeria and the NGX.
- Listing structure: whether arrangements are made to move shares between Lagos and New York.
- Local participation: whether Nigerian retail investors get access on fair terms.
Sources
- OPay Form F-1 registration statement: US SEC (EDGAR)
- NGX secondary listing approval: Nairametrics
- Standard Bank investment and IPO details: bne IntelliNews
About the author: Steve Oke. is the editor of TechPeza, where he covers AI tools, electric vehicles, home power, fintech and smartphones for African readers.
This is news, not financial advice.
