Moniepoint recruits top talent from Access, Stanbic Banks amid expansion

Since 2023, Moniepoint, the Nigerian fintech unicorn, is said to have aggressively hired talents from Access Bank and Stanbic IBTC to deepen its benches for the purpose of scaling operations. The recent recruits were in the fields of compliance, risk management, sales, and product, which are crucial for scaling financial services.

Other notable hires include Bayo Olujobi, former Stanbic IBTC Chief Financial Officer now with Moniepoint, and Michael Afolabi, who previously was the acting Chief Information Security and Data Protection Officer at Oxygen X, a digital lending subsidiary of Access Bank. LinkedIn shows that no fewer than 19 employees have left Access Bank for Moniepoint in the past two years, about half of them joining within the last six months. Similarly, in the last few months, six Stanbic IBTC employees have switched to Moniepoint, including Ikenna Ndugbu, who now heads compliance.

“Moniepoint’s hiring approach is agnostic to the industry,” shared Didi Uwemakpan, vice president, corporate affairs. “We believe that mastery is of utmost importance, and we remain committed to attracting the best talents regardless of the industry they come from.

However, Access Bank did not say anything to comment on it.

Stanbic IBTC likewise did not respond to any such request for comments.

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A strategic hiring spree

Moniepoint has been busy hiring senior employees from the banking sector at a time when most fintechs were winning battle for talent after over-indulgent periods in which most startups were flush with cash.

According to a source who asked not to be named because the source is not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, Moniepoint went further to poach the compliance team of a prominent remittance startup, among several other moves, as the Central Bank scrutinizes fintechs with growing retail bases. The bank has also approached the regulator on a commercial banking license.

The recent strategic investment from global payment giant Visa further highlights the ambition of the fintech company. The regulation prowess is critical while scaling into newer areas of contactless payments and more complex financial service provisions.

Moniepoint is hiring as part of this shift occurring in Nigeria’s financial sector-from attracting senior banking professionals into fintech. Ex-bankers are supposed to bring on board the increased knowledge in financial systems, compliance, and risk management-all developments that will add value to the business as they scale.

Money also plays a huge role. Insiders report that fintechs typically pay much higher salaries than those prevailing in banks, sometimes doubling for comparable top roles. All this has resulted in traditional banks reviewing the pay structure. For instance, Sterling Bank has increased salaries by over 35% for many roles in February, after an unsatisfactory raise of 7% in January. It joined the ranks of GTBank, Union Bank, and Wema Bank, which have similarly implemented pay adjustments as a result of the looming war for talent.

If banks do not want to tighten their belts when it comes to salary and flexibility, they will lose even more talented individuals to innovations like Moniepoint. Fintech companies are increasingly stealing the thunder from traditional banks by going for their best talents instead of just competing with them for customers. And they seem to be winning in their recruiting efforts.