OPay Achieves 99.9% Uptime, Targets 1bn Users By 2031

Financial technology company, OPay, has achieved 99.9 per cent platform uptime as it intensifies its investments in artificial intelligence (AI)-powered security solutions and resilient payment infrastructure to support its ambition to reach one billion users by 2031.

The company said the milestone underscores its commitment to providing secure, reliable and inclusive digital financial services as it strengthens operations in existing markets and prepares to expand into additional countries.

Speaking at the OPay Media Parley in Lagos, the company’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Dotun Adekunle, said OPay’s long-term strategy is anchored on building a highly resilient payment ecosystem capable of delivering uninterrupted services even during system disruptions.

According to him, the company has invested heavily in redundant payment infrastructure and automatic failover systems that instantly reroute transactions whenever a payment channel experiences disruption.

He said the investments have enabled OPay to maintain 99.9 per cent platform uptime, with transactions completed in less than one second on average through a network powered by more than 1,000 application programming interfaces (APIs).

“When a system breaks down, another one picks up automatically so that you don’t feel anything. If OPay is ever down, it is less than one hour in a whole year,” Adekunle said.

He noted that the company’s engineering approach is driven by customer needs, with every new feature designed to address real challenges encountered by users.

“Because we are obsessed with customers’ satisfaction, we are always solving the problems being encountered by customers. We listen to their fears, frictions and the pain points that people have. Every feature in this story began as a customer’s frustration. Where the market said, ‘that’s just how payments work here,’ we treated it as an engineering problem waiting to be solved,” he said.

To further strengthen customer protection, Adekunle said OPay has expanded its use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect and prevent fraudulent transactions before they affect users.

He explained that the company’s risk-based security system automatically triggers facial verification for unusual activities, including high-value transactions, payments initiated from unfamiliar locations and transactions conducted at unusual hours.

He added that OPay has introduced an Emergency Lock feature that enables customers to instantly freeze their accounts if their phones are lost or stolen or suspicious activity is detected.

Other security features include the Night Guard for unusual late-night high-value transactions, the Large Transaction Shield for transfers above customer-defined limits and the Anti-Scam Shield, which uses machine learning to identify suspicious transfers in real time before they leave the network.

According to him, most technical issues are resolved before customers notice them, while system upgrades are carried out without interrupting transactions.

“The goal is simple; we engineer for your safety, your reliability and your peace of mind,” he added.

Also speaking, OPay’s Chief Commercial Officer, Elizabeth Wang, said the fintech currently operates in Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan and Indonesia, with plans to expand into additional markets as part of its long-term growth strategy.

She disclosed that the company is targeting one billion users by 2031 by leveraging technology to make financial services more accessible, secure and inclusive across emerging markets.

“We have grown so fast in Nigeria. We are not just the most popular financial app, we are more popular than some social media platforms. OPay Nigeria is the third most popular app in the country,” Wang said.

She said the company’s mission remains focused on using technology to deepen financial inclusion while building trust in digital financial services.

“Our mission remains making financial services more inclusive through technology,” she said, adding that OPay aspires to become the world’s most respected and trusted financial technology company that creates social value.

According to Wang, the company’s long-term investments are centred on delivering financial services that are safe, stable, efficient and accessible.

“When people trust digital financial services, they use them more confidently. That trust becomes the foundation for economic growth,” she added.