Kuda has updated its business banking services to allow NGOs and incorporated trustees to open and manage business accounts entirely online. The move means religious organisations, charities, and other registered organisations no longer have to navigate the long wait and paperwork traditionally associated with setting up a business account.
Nosa Oyegun
On the Kuda Business app, organisations registered with Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) can choose the NGO option during signup, submit their CAC documents, and provide trustee details. Once verified, accounts are activated within minutes, a significant reduction from the days or weeks it can take under traditional business banking processes.
For many NGOs and religious institutions, handling donations, grants, and operational expenses has long been slowed by manual systems and branch-based requirements.
The Kuda Business update is expected to make financial management faster and more transparent, allowing organisations to focus on their mission instead of battling administrative bottlenecks.
Nigeria is home to thousands of registered NGOs and religious organisations, with Lagos State alone accounting for over 10,000 churches and mosques as of the last count in 2021. Across the country, incorporated trustees play a critical role in education, healthcare, humanitarian response and community development. Despite their scale and economic relevance, access to modern digital banking tools has remained limited for many of these institutions.
Nosa Oyegun, SVP Business Banking at Kuda, said the update is proof of Kuda’s focus on removing structural barriers that slow Nigerian organisations down. “NGOs and religious organisations are responsible for managing funds that directly impact communities, yet they are often forced to operate with outdated banking processes,” he said.
“By enabling incorporated trustees to open Kuda Business accounts entirely online quickly, we’re giving these organisations access to the same modern financial tools built by Kuda that other businesses already use, so they spend less time doing admin work.”
With Kuda Business, NGOs and religious organisations can manage incoming donations and grants, make payments, track transactions in real time, generate professional account statements for audits and reporting, and grant controlled access to trustees, treasurers and administrators, all on a single app.
Kuda designed the account signup process to meet regulatory requirements while significantly reducing manual reviews and customer support workload. Automations shorten notoriously long business signup timelines while improving information accuracy and user experience.
As reforms promoting cashless payments and digital financial services take hold in Nigeria, NGOs and religious organisations are under increasing pressure from donors, partners and regulators to operate with greater financial transparency and efficiency.
The new Kuda Business update is therefore timely, offering a dedicated digital account specifically designed for this segment, unlike many traditional banks and fintech platforms that treat incorporated trustees as special cases requiring comparatively slower manual intervention.
