OPay, Kuda and Moniepoint: What AI Recommends as the Best Digital Bank in Nigeria

When Felix Akinnibi and I tested how AI platforms understand Nigeria’s fintech market, one prompt felt obvious:

“Which digital bank is best for everyday use in Nigeria?”

We ran it twice across ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta AI and Perplexity.

“Best” leaves plenty of room for interpretation. Someone might care about transfer reliability. Someone else wants cheap transactions, a good card, POS access, savings features or an app that will not disgrace them while a cashier is staring.

The answers changed across platforms and between runs, although the way each brand was characterised stayed surprisingly consistent.

We use “digital bank” loosely here because the companies do not all operate under the same licence. The CBN lists OPay and PalmPay as Mobile Money Operators, while Kuda and Moniepoint operate as microfinance banks. Consumers still use them for many of the same things, so they regularly end up competing in the same recommendation query.

Run 1: What ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta AI and Perplexity Said

ChatGPT picked Kuda for everyday personal banking, while recommending OPay for people who frequently needed cash or POS access. Moniepoint was positioned around business and personal banking, while PalmPay got cashback and rewards.

The Kuda framing matched its product positioning. It offers 25 free interbank transfers each month, alongside cards, automated savings and spending tools.

OPay occupied a different space in the answer: convenience when everyday banking extends into agents, cash and physical payments.

Gemini skipped an overall winner and divided the category by use case.

OPay got everyday payments and transaction uptime. Kuda got personal banking and budgeting. PalmPay got cashback and rewards. Moniepoint got reliability and the crossover between personal and business banking.

The reader effectively had to choose which version of “best” applied to them.

That framing fits a market where the leading fintechs are already close on customer experience. In KPMG’s 2025 survey, OPay scored 80.7, Kuda 79.1, and Moniepoint and PalmPay 79.0.

Meta AI picked OPay for daily transactions. PalmPay was its preferred backup, while Moniepoint was recommended for security and business use.

Its case for OPay centred on transfer reliability, bills and the company’s agent/POS footprint. Meta interpreted “everyday use” as the ability to move and spend money without much friction.

Perplexity went back to Kuda, calling it the “best all-round digital bank for everyday spending.”

It widened the comparison beyond the usual four, introducing ALAT by Wema as another relevant option. ALAT was recommended for keeping a larger emergency balance, while Moniepoint Personal appeared for automated savings.

Its visible sources also differed from Meta’s. Perplexity pulled from Kuda’s first-party information and regulatory sources such as the NDIC, giving the answer more of a traditional banking lens.

Run 2: The Rankings Changed, the Brand Associations Mostly Didn’t

Then we ran the same prompt again.

ChatGPT switched to OPay.

OPay became the overall recommendation for daily spending, transfers, cards, bills and cash access. Moniepoint came second for heavy transfers and POS payments. Kuda dropped to third for budgeting and the banking experience. PalmPay came fourth for rewards.

The ranking changed, while the brand associations stayed almost identical.

Kuda still meant budgeting and personal banking. Moniepoint still meant payment infrastructure and POS. PalmPay still meant rewards. OPay still meant daily transactions.

ChatGPT’s visible sources in this run were concentrated around company websites, product documentation, app stores and regulators. OPay’s Google Play listing, for example, shows more than 50 million downloads.

Perplexity kept Kuda in first place.

It again described Kuda as the “best all-round digital bank”, citing low fees, free monthly transfers, budgeting tools and virtual cards. OPay and PalmPay appeared as alternatives for people who prioritised transfers, bills and agent access.

PalmPay had been less prominent in Perplexity’s first run, so even the shortlist shifted between identical queries.

Perplexity’s visible sources leaned more heavily towards third-party reviews and comparison sites than ChatGPT’s. Kuda has enough product evidence to support the framing, including 25 free interbank transfers each month, savings features, cards and spending tools. The final label of “best all-round”, though, depends on which of those attributes the model decides to prioritise.

Gemini put OPay first, followed by Moniepoint, PalmPay and Kuda.

This was the first result where Kuda fell outside the top three.

The same brand patterns remained. OPay got spending and bills. Moniepoint got uptime and merchant transactions. PalmPay got rewards. Kuda got budgeting and saving.

Gemini also added a regulatory status column. It identified OPay and PalmPay as Mobile Money Operators and Moniepoint and Kuda as microfinance banks.

That information introduced another factor into what had mostly been a product comparison. The CBN’s licensing information confirms the distinction, and the deposit-insurance treatment also differs by institution type. The NDIC provides up to ₦5 million in pass-through coverage per eligible Mobile Money subscriber, compared with ₦2 million per depositor at a microfinance bank.

Meta AI also chose OPay, calling it the strongest option for “pure everyday reliability.”

OPay got the recommendation for transfers, agents and POS. Kuda came second for app design, budgeting tools and free transfers. Meta cited its smaller agent network and reports of transfer delays among the reasons OPay remained ahead.

Its sources looked different from the other platforms. Nigerian media, comparison sites and social posts appeared prominently, including conversations where people were directly comparing OPay, PalmPay and Moniepoint.

Ifekoya, an SEO specialist at PiggyVest, had previously described Meta AI to me as an underrated surface for Nigerian marketers. The sourcing in this test helps explain why it deserves attention: Meta was pulling evidence from places where Nigerians were already talking about these products.

Its answer also contained a factual error. Meta grouped the providers under the same type of CBN licence and implied that the same ₦5 million NDIC coverage applied to all of them. CBN licensing data shows that OPay and PalmPay are MMOs, while Kuda and Moniepoint operate as microfinance banks. The relevant NDIC coverage limits differ.

A confident AI recommendation can combine a reasonable conclusion with inaccurate supporting information.

What the two runs tell us

AI recommendations move

ChatGPT switched from Kuda to OPay between two runs of the same prompt. PalmPay moved in and out of prominent positions. Even where the same companies appeared, their order changed.

A single screenshot showing your company “ranking first on ChatGPT” tells you very little about whether that position will survive the next query.

Repeated appearances across runs and surfaces give a stronger signal.

OPay kept getting associated with everyday payments, transfers and reliability. Kuda stayed close to budgeting, saving and personal banking. Moniepoint remained tied to POS, merchants and payment infrastructure. PalmPay repeatedly appeared around rewards and cashback.

Those associations survived the ranking changes.

A small group of companies dominated the recommendation set

OPay, Kuda and Moniepoint appeared throughout the tests. PalmPay featured often, although less consistently. Other Nigerian digital-finance brands rarely entered the conversation.

The market itself is less separated than the AI answers suggest. KPMG scored OPay at 80.7, Kuda at 79.1, and Moniepoint and PalmPay at 79.0 in its 2025 fintech customer-experience ranking. Only 1.7 points separated OPay from Moniepoint and PalmPay.

AI compresses those small differences into recommendations such as OPay is best, Kuda is best or choose Moniepoint for X.

Brands that appear repeatedly gain an advantage before the ranking even starts because the model already considers them relevant to the query.

For everyone outside that group, getting into the consideration set comes first.

Each surface drew from a different mix of sources

ChatGPT pulled heavily from company websites, help centres, app stores and regulators. Perplexity leaned more towards reviews and comparison publishers. Gemini mixed comparison sites with sources such as YouTube. Meta surfaced Nigerian media and social conversations more prominently.

There is much more in the full report

This was one of five prompts Felix and I tested for the Nigerian fintech category when co-authoring the State of AI Search Nigeria Report.

The report looks at how Nigerians use AI, which Nigerian brands appear in AI answers, and what this means for marketers, founders, media teams, and digital operators.

Sign up to be one of the first to receive it when it drops: https://tally.so/r/ODR5bg