South Africa’s legacy financial institutions are accelerating their push into the continent’s fintech sector, increasingly trading competition for consolidation. In the latest move signaling this trend, financial services group FirstRand has deepened its bet on artificial intelligence-led credit platform Optasia, increasing its shareholding to 26.1%.

The transaction highlights a growing mandate among traditional African banks: rather than building alternative digital lending and payment infrastructure from scratch, it is faster — and increasingly more profitable — to buy into the startups already dominating the space.

The Deal

Optasia announced on Tuesday that FirstRand acquired an additional 6% stake in the company. The bank purchased 74.1 million ordinary shares at R20.00 each, translating to an investment of roughly R1.48 billion ($78 million).

The shares were acquired directly from an entity owned by Optasia founder and non-executive director Bassim Haidar. Following the sale, Haidar’s aggregate indirect shareholding drops to 1.5% of the total issued shares, though he will retain his seat on the company’s board.

This acquisition builds upon FirstRand’s initial strategic investment in October 2025, when the bank took a 20.1% stake in the fintech just prior to its initial public offering (IPO). Optasia subsequently debuted on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) main board in November under the ticker OPA, raising approximately R6.5 billion in the process.

Optasia’s Post-IPO Financial Surge

Optasia’s core business revolves around using AI to provide credit scoring, micro-lending, and financial services to unbanked and underbanked populations across emerging markets. By leveraging alternative mobile and transactional data, the platform allows telecommunications providers and banks to offer instant credit to consumers who lack formal financial histories.

The fintech’s maiden full-year results for 2025, which exceeded the guidance issued during its IPO, provide clear context for FirstRand’s decision to double down.

Key Financial Highlights for FY 2025:

• Revenue: Reached $265 million (R4.4 billion), representing a 76% year-on-year increase.
• EBITDA: Adjusted earnings climbed 52% to $115 million (R1.9 billion), maintaining a strong margin of 43.2%.
• Net Income: Normalised net income grew by 57% to $57.8 million (R973 million).

Salvador Anglada, CEO of Optasia, noted that the 2025 figures validate the company’s aggressive expansion strategy. “The performance demonstrates how well-positioned Optasia is to address the substantial market opportunity,” Anglada said, pointing to the firm’s focus on “disciplined, responsible scaling” in the digital lending sector.

Legacy Banks Open Their Wallets

FirstRand’s move is part of a wider, aggressive fintech acquisition strategy playing out across South Africa’s traditional banking sector. Legacy banks are actively hunting for B2B fintechs and digital payment platforms that can diversify their revenue streams and capture the massive volume of informal and semi-formal transactions occurring outside traditional banking rails.

Rival banking group Nedbank has been particularly active recently in this space:

• Cross-border Expansion: Last year, Nedbank joined as a strategic investor in a $7.5 million pre-Series A funding round for Kuunda, a Tanzanian B2B fintech. This deal marked a clear appetite for extending banking influence into high-growth East African markets via existing startup infrastructure.
• Domestic Consolidation: More recently, Nedbank executed a major domestic play by acquiring the South African point-of-sale and payments firm iKhokha for a reported R1.65 billion ($90 million).

What This Means for the Market

For traditional banks, acquiring significant stakes in high-growth fintechs like Optasia and iKhokha serves a dual purpose. It allows them to capture the high margins of alternative digital lending and SME payments, while hedging against the risk of being disrupted by these agile tech players.

For the African fintech ecosystem, this trend signals a maturing market. While early-stage venture capital funding has experienced a global slowdown, strategic investments and buyouts from deep-pocketed legacy banks are emerging as a viable, and highly lucrative, exit and scaling strategy for local founders.