Paystack, a Nigerian fintech company, has launched Zap, its first consumer-facing app designed to make bank transfers in Nigeria faster and more reliable.
Shola Akinlade, CEO of Paystack, who announced the launch at the company’s event, “An Evening with Paystack”, held on Monday, says Zap focused on solving common frustrations with bank transfers by ensuring transactions are completed within 30 seconds.
According to the Paystack CEO, “Zap isn’t trying to be a new bank. It is just focused on one thing: bank transfers, fast. And that’s it. Making payments fast, reliable, and effortless as they should be.”
“We started thinking about how much of our day-to-day relies on bank transfers today, and how broken that experience can still be, especially when you’re in a hurry,” Akinlade says.
“And we asked ourselves three questions. What would it take to start and finish a transfer within 30 seconds? So from when I bring out my phone to when the person gets the money in 30 seconds, what would it take for this to work every single time? And wouldn’t it be great if I could just link all my accounts so I don’t have to even log into my bank. I can just pay directly from one place. And that’s what we came up with.”
According to the Paystack CEO, “Zap isn’t trying to be a new bank. It is just focused on one thing: bank transfers, fast. And that’s it. Making payments fast, reliable, and effortless as they should be.”
“I’m a fan of focused experiences. And unlike other apps that I’ve used, Zap does transfers only. And that focus alone makes all the difference,” Ezra Olubi, co-founder and CTO of Paystack says.
“So for example, one of my favorite things about it is how easy it is to turn those account numbers. So let’s say I’m at a restaurant and it’s time to pay for my meal. The account number is on the bill. I just scan. And yeah. Well, I pay. Yeah. And one thing I’m also really looking forward to is how we can tightly integrate it with the rest of the Paystack experience.”
Akinlade also reveals that Paystack Titan, the company’s bank transfers infrastructure, has become the most-used payment channel on Paystack, surpassing Mastercard and Visa. According to him, “98% of transfers are confirmed within 10 seconds.”
The move marks Paystack’s expansion beyond its traditional role as a business-facing payments processor to directly serving everyday consumers. The company, acquired by U.S. payments giant Stripe in 2020, has built a reputation for powering online transactions for businesses across Africa.
How Zap works
With Zap, users can link multiple bank accounts in one place and make transfers without logging into individual bank apps. Akinlade says that the app is built on the same infrastructure that powers Paystack’s business clients, ensuring speed and reliability.
Paystack demonstrated Zap’s speed at the event by sending a live bank transfer, showcasing how quickly funds could be received. Zap is available for download on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
With Zap, Paystack enters Nigeria’s competitive peer-to-peer payments space, where apps like OPay, PalmPay, and Kuda have gained traction.
Akinlade also shares insights into the company’s growing infrastructure, which now handles millions of transactions every month across multiple countries and currencies. In the last quarter of 2024, Paystack’s API processed over three billion requests, achieving an uptime of 99.9927%—translating to just 9.5 minutes of downtime over three months.
“We’re also not just getting more reliable, we’re also getting faster. We’ve reduced our latency from 446 milliseconds to 254 milliseconds. What that means is that we’re now responding to billions of requests in just a quarter of a second,” Akinlade says.
Africa expansion
Paystack has been aggressively expanding its footprint beyond Nigeria. The company is now operational in South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, and Côte d’Ivoire. During last year’s Black Friday, Paystack saw South Africa process more payment volume than in the previous three years combined.
Amandine Lobelle, Paystack’s COO, explains that Paystack is powering major brands like Xero, Crocs, and Under Armour in South Africa, while Ghana’s customers include Decathlon and Kwame Nkrumah University. In Kenya, businesses such as Zucchini Supermarket and Ando Foods use Paystack, while in Côte d’Ivoire, companies like WakaNow have expanded with the fintech’s support.
Beyond African businesses, Paystack is also working with global partners such as Stripe and eBanks to facilitate transactions for multinational companies like Canva.
Akinlade also reveals that Paystack Titan, the company’s bank transfers infrastructure, has become the most-used payment channel on Paystack, surpassing Mastercard and Visa. According to him, “98% of transfers are confirmed within 10 seconds.”
Paystack has also introduced new security and payment tools for businesses. One of them is passkeys, which remove the need for passwords by allowing biometric authentication through Face ID or fingerprint scanning. Additionally, Paystack’s direct debit feature enables businesses to charge linked bank accounts with user consent, with over half a million accounts already linked.
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