HabariPay’s Profit Soars 12-Fold to ₦4.02B, Driven by Airtime and Merchant Surge

HabariPay, the fintech arm of Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), has posted a staggering 12-fold profit increase, reaching ₦4.02 billion ($2.7 million) in H1 2025, up from ₦322.9 million ($217,094) in H1 2022, cementing its status as Nigeria’s most profitable bank-backed fintech. This leap, drawn from GTCO’s six-month financial statements, outpaces rivals like Access Bank’s Hydrogen, which earned ₦283 million ($190,268) in Q1 2025, and Stanbic IBTC’s Zest, which posted a ₦389 million ($261,535) loss in H1.

The profit surge is fueled by booming merchant activity and airtime vending, with operating income skyrocketing over 10 times to ₦5.05 billion ($3.39 million) from ₦447.86 million ($301,108) in H1 2022. However, operating expenses also climbed 13-fold to ₦1.03 billion ($692,497), reflecting the cost of rapid scaling. HabariPay’s flagship platform, Squad, integrates payment gateways, e-commerce tools, and a growing Point-of-Sale (PoS) business, processing payments via virtual accounts, USSD, cards, and bank transfers. Revenue streams include net commissions on merchant transactions and margins on bill payments like airtime and bulk SMS.

Originally launched in 2018 as a super-app, Habari pivoted in 2022 to focus on digital payments, leveraging GTCO’s 37 million-strong customer base. In 2024, it processed ₦27.4 trillion ($17.1 billion) in transactions, a 124.6% year-on-year jump, with plans to expand PoS terminal deployments in 2025 to further boost Squad’s reach. CEO Eduofon Japhet emphasized scaling PoS services and making mobile transfers as seamless as card payments, backed by new switching and processing licenses from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Despite its growth, HabariPay remains a small contributor to GTCO’s ₦449 billion ($301.88 million) H1 profit, accounting for just 0.89%. It also trails independent fintech giants like Flutterwave, Paystack, OPay, PalmPay, and Moniepoint, with 2023 revenue estimates for PalmPay at $63.9 million and Moniepoint at $264.51 million. Still, its infrastructure play—integrating with 13 banks and major fintechs—positions it for long-term growth in Nigeria’s $14.5 billion digital payments market, projected to hit $21 billion by 2028.