Nigeria's largest card network plans to enable customers to make payments by touching their handsets to a terminal, with Verve tap-to-pay as the first step, and later to pass payment chores on to AI assistants, according to CEO Vincent Ogbunude, who spoke on Thursday. Fewer steps in each transaction is the point of the plan.
Ogbunude made the remarks on 29 October on the Big Tech and Enterprise Stage at Moonshot by TechCabal, calling the plans the following stage in cutting friction out of payments. “The greatest cost in payments is friction,” he said. He argued that each additional step, whether keying in an account number or trying a failed transfer again, pushes up cost.
What agentic payments and Verve tap-to-pay could mean
Verve tap-to-pay would let customers use something they already carry, so a plastic card would no longer be required. Agentic payments go a step further. Following the customer's instructions, an AI agent would find an item to buy and complete the transaction, so the customer need not handle every step personally.
The major international payment schemes are heading in a similar direction, which puts Verve tap-to-pay in step with them. In 2025, Visa and Mastercard each launched initiatives allowing AI agents to buy goods for cardholders.
The groundwork already laid
The plan builds on groundwork the company started last year. In December, TechCabal noted that Verve's cards had passed the 100 million mark, and that it was expanding into tokenisation, a process that swaps card details for a single-use code, as well as payments made by tapping a card. According to Ogbunude, the total has since risen to 130 million cards.
Interswitch, the Nigerian firm that handles payments, is Verve's parent. Ogbunude described Interswitch's track record as a string of fixes for awkward problems:
- Before it arrived, people had to go to the branch of their own bank to get cash out.
- Its shared network meant they could use their cards at ATMs belonging to any bank.
- The firm later went on to build Quickteller, POS machines and Verve.
The scale of Nigeria's payments market
Nigeria's inter-bank settlement operator, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), says its Instant Payment platform processed roughly 11.2 billion payments in 2024, with a combined value of ₦1.07 quadrillion. That is the most recent full-year figure it has published, and it shows how big the numbers are.
Should Verve make good on its plans, including Verve tap-to-pay, success in Nigerian payments will no longer be judged by how many people own a card, but by how few steps a payment requires. Since transfers now account for most payments in the country, the larger issue is whether banks and their customers will be willing to let software spend money on their behalf.
Verve contactless payments and AI agents: security and regulation
Moving to agentic payments and contactless mobile technology presents both immense opportunities and steep operational challenges within Nigeria's unique financial landscape. Tapping a smartphone simplifies the checkout experience at point-of-sale terminals. Delegating purchasing decisions to autonomous software, however, introduces complex questions around security, regulatory compliance, and user trust.
For banks, authorising AI agents to initiate transactions on behalf of account holders demands a complete overhaul of current fraud monitoring and risk mitigation frameworks. Traditional security relies heavily on multi-factor authentication, such as one-time passwords (OTPs), PINs, and biometric verification performed directly by human users.
Translating these safeguards into programmatic authorisations will require advanced API integrations, strict transaction limits, and robust tokenisation layers. These would ensure that an AI agent cannot exceed its brief or compromise underlying card credentials.
Regulatory bodies like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will also need to establish clear rules around liability, specifically determining who assumes financial responsibility when an AI agent executes an unintended purchase or falls victim to algorithmic exploitation.
Will Nigerian consumers trust the change?
On the consumer side, behavioural shifts often prove more stubborn than technical integration. While Nigerians have rapidly embraced bank transfers and digital wallets, handing over financial agency requires a deeper level of confidence in automated systems. Early adoption will likely begin with low-value, repetitive transactions, such as auto-replenishing utility units, recurring subscription renewals, or routine grocery reorders, before consumers feel comfortable allowing software to handle larger expenditures.
Verve's strategic shift reflects a broader global movement towards invisible payments. If Interswitch and Verve successfully navigate the balance between frictionless user experience and stringent security, they could redefine how digital commerce functions across Africa. Success will depend not only on technological readiness, but on convincing a cautious public that handing the wallet over to software is as safe as holding the card themselves.
