When OPay unveiled a brand new suite of seven safety features final month, it promised to redefine how Nigerians handle digital transactions and shield their funds.
For years, prospects of each conventional banks and fintech apps have complained about shock deductions, fraudulent transfers, and the lengthy delays concerned in reversing errors.
The brand new options goal to sort out these challenges head-on. However do they dwell as much as the promise, or are they merely incremental upgrades in an more and more crowded fintech house?
Concerning the service
The seven safety features was launched as a part of the #MyOPaySecurityVoteChallenge marketing campaign, which began in August 2025.
These instruments got here with a transparent message from OPay executives. They highlighted that each characteristic was in-built response to actual customer ache factors, from unintentional transfers to recurring on-line subscription expenses.
“Your entire technique of constructing this product began with us interacting with the customers first. It was about realizing what they needed, what they wanted, what would make their monetary life a bit of simpler.
Prospects want fast management over their accounts, whether or not their cellphone is misplaced, their card is compromised, or they face surprising on-line deductions,” Elizabeth wang, chief business officer of Opay Nigeria, acknowledged.
The options are as follows
USSD Lock is designed for pressing conditions when a cellphone or card is misplaced or stolen. Customers can immediately lock their account or card utilizing a easy USSD code, stopping unauthorized entry. Solely the account proprietor can activate this lock, which suggests even when another person has the system, they can not entry the funds. This characteristic offers customers fast management and peace of thoughts.
- Giant transaction protect
This characteristic targets high-value transfers. Earlier than processing vital funds, customers are prompted to confirm the transaction by way of Face ID, fingerprint, or safety codes.
By including this further layer of safety, OPay ensures that giant transactions are safe and that funds can’t be transferred with out deliberate consumer affirmation.
Emergency Lock enhances USSD Lock by permitting customers to right away freeze their accounts throughout suspicious exercise or theft.
The characteristic is especially helpful for stopping fraudulent withdrawals or unauthorized transfers, giving customers fast management over their accounts and defending funds whereas the problem is investigated.
Shock deductions from recurring funds have lengthy annoyed prospects. Subscription Management permits customers to handle all on-line subscriptions linked to their playing cards. When a card is first linked to a platform, OPay notifies the consumer and provides the choice to pause or cease recurring funds. Customers can totally management which subscriptions proceed and that are halted, eliminating surprising expenses from on-line retailers.
Evening Guard provides further safety for transactions carried out exterior regular banking hours. Late-night transfers require Face ID verification, decreasing the danger of unauthorized exercise if an account is compromised throughout off-hours.
This characteristic targets a standard vulnerability for each banks and fintech apps, the place fraudulent exercise usually happens throughout low-supervision hours.
Rip-off Alert protects customers from fraud in actual time. OPay maintains a database of suspicious accounts and constantly updates it with new threats.
When a probably fraudulent transaction is detected, the system can robotically block it or immediate the consumer with verification steps to verify legitimacy.
- Giant transaction double test
Giant Transaction Double Verify particularly addresses errors and unintentional transfers. For transactions above sure thresholds, customers should verify recipient particulars, re-enter account data, and even kind the recipient’s title to proceed.
If a mistake happens, the system can instantly freeze the transferred funds and coordinate with the recipient bank to reverse the transaction the place doable. This reduces losses from unintentional transfers and reinforces consumer confidence within the platform.
OPay famous that it needed to develop an in-house Face ID system tailor-made for Nigerian customers. In contrast to commonplace facial recognition methods that may be fooled with images, this method requires dwell verification; customers should transfer, nod, or carry out gestures to verify their id.
These safety features will be seen as a strategic improve to its present monetary providers, significantly in response to previous vulnerabilities.
Nairametrics reported that a number of OPay brokers protested unauthorized withdrawals from their accounts, triggering panic withdrawals amongst customers. Customers reported vital unauthorized deductions, together with transfers to unknown accounts and purchases made with out their consent.
Competing merchandise
OPay is more and more undermining conventional banks by offering secure, dependable, quick cost providers at occasions when bank apps and USSD platforms are failing. Nigeria’s fintech market is crowded and aggressive. OPay additionally goes head-to-head with rivals like PalmPay, Moniepoint, Flutterwave and Paystack
For a lot of Nigerians, banks have turn into unreliable with never-ending app crashes, USSD code failures and delays in transaction confirmations.
Whereas these platforms supply sturdy cost and pockets providers, none supplies the identical depth of user-controlled safety features.
Conventional banks, which rely closely on in-branch verification and slower dispute decision, could really feel stress to modernize their methods. Fintech opponents might additionally face increased expectations from customers for fraud prevention and real-time monitoring.
In essence, OPay’s give attention to safety might reshape customer expectations and push each banks and fintech corporations towards extra proactive safety measures, probably disrupting segments of the digital funds and on-line monetary providers trade.
Skilled opinion
Oluwaseun Oke, an engineering and product supervisor, fintech options architect, and cell developer, famous that one of many greatest dangers OPay faces is system reliability
“Key dangers embody system reliability, with databases and APIs battling sudden spikes.”
He additionally identified the dangers tied to OPay’s reliance on third-party suppliers.
“They will’t personal all of it. From the third-party supplier that helps them ship OTPs for ID verification, they’ve to ensure these companions are able to dealing with such development. I consider they’ve methods in place to share and stability workload between a number of suppliers.”
Oluwasegun cautioned that dangerous actors are discovering methods to misuse the businesses rip-off alert characteristic.
“Some customers are exploiting the rip-off alert characteristic for revenge. I consider a strict system ought to be put in place.”
“From what I see at present, they’ve top-of-the-line methods in place, and all they should do is scale it as they develop. The place they may have a problem is in expertise retention, compliance, regulation or political interference. However for now, they’ve proved that they’ve what it takes,” he mentioned
Person experiences
To grasp how OPay’s options carry out in real-world settings, Nairametrics spoke with merchants and common customers of the app. Mrs. Annastasia Njoku, a market dealer, highlighted one problem with the facial recognition characteristic.
“I all the time should go on and on with this Face ID characteristic. They are going to let you know to show your head proper, left, and even say cheese. That is what I’ve to do whereas promoting available in the market most occasions,” she mentioned.
Regardless of this, many customers respect the safety measures. One other consumer, Isreal Adebayo, famous that the
“The app’s safety characteristic is de facto superb. Each time I wish to ship an quantity that’s not often what I ship, they enquire repeatedly and put me by way of extra verification, like fingerprint, face ID and codes.
“They even let you know the community standing of the bank you’re sending cash to, so you understand if the bank’s system is down and whether or not the transaction will undergo,” he mentioned.
“Annastasia Ufio makes use of OPay as a backup for fast transactions, appreciating its reliability despite the fact that she stays cautious about app-based operators.
“I don’t totally belief app-based cell operators as a result of I fear about waking as much as information of individuals shedding cash unexpectedly. That’s why I solely preserve a specific amount of funds on OPay, as a backup in case my bank falls quick after I have to make a transaction. To this point, I’ve by no means been stranded utilizing OPay,” she mentioned
She added that the verification steps will be irritating, particularly should you make errors when coming into login particulars, however she prefers that over the danger of fraud.
“It feels reassuring realizing that if my password is compromised, the app locks me out for twenty-four hours,” she famous.
Olubukola Ozone shared his expertise: “The Rip-off Alert characteristic, which warns you if you’re about to switch cash to a flagged account, is a lifesaver. Simply final week, it prevented me from falling sufferer to a rip-off. All the pieces in regards to the account regarded reliable, however OPay blocked the transaction. That single second of warning saved me from shedding cash, and I’m genuinely grateful,” he mentioned.
- For now, OPay’s new suite of safety features represents a powerful step towards addressing long-standing challenges in digital transactions. Whereas the instruments supply customers higher management and safety, their long-term impression will rely upon how easily they perform in on a regular basis use, and the way nicely the corporate continues to refine them in response to evolving fraud techniques.