FirstRand has moved to consolidate its position in JSE-listed fintech Optasia, acquiring an additional 6% stake for R1.48 billion in a transaction that lifts the banking group’s total shareholding to 26.1% and underscores the growing strategic importance of AI-driven micro-lending to South Africa’s largest financial groups.
FirstRand, through its investment holding arm FirstRand Investment Holdings, acquired 74,103,711 shares at R20 each from Zoey Enterprises, an associate of Optasia founder and non-executive director Bassim Haidar. Settlement of the transaction is expected on 30 March 2026, after which Haidar’s indirect shareholding in the company reduces to 1.5%. The JSE listing’s joint bookrunners agreed to waive an existing lock-up restriction on the shares to allow the deal to proceed.
The transaction builds on FirstRand’s initial R4.7 billion off-market acquisition of a 20.1% stake in Optasia ahead of its JSE debut in November 2025 — one of the largest fintech listings ever recorded on the South African market, which valued the company at R23.5 billion. The IPO priced at the top of its indicated range at R19 per share and was several times oversubscribed, raising R6.5 billion in primary capital and materially strengthening the group’s balance sheet.
The renewed commitment from FirstRand follows a set of maiden annual results that exceeded the guidance Optasia gave at listing. Revenue for the year ended 31 December 2025 rose 76% to US$265.4 million, while normalised net income climbed 57% to $57.8 million. The total value of credit facilitated through the platform increased 44% to $5.5 billion. The most significant shift in the business mix was the emergence of micro-financing solutions as the dominant revenue driver, with that segment’s revenue surging 149% year on year to account for 63% of group revenue — overtaking airtime credit for the first time. The company also announced it had acquired electricity credit specialist Finergi for $30 million, extending its embedded lending model into prepaid utility systems.
FirstRand chief executive Mary Vilakazi described the Optasia partnership as an opportunity to reach clients in segments where traditional credit scoring has historically excluded people, noting that Optasia’s methodology — which assesses creditworthiness based on airtime usage and mobile behaviour rather than conventional bill-payment history — gives FNB a route into entry-level markets where it has previously had limited reach. Vilakazi said initial engagement between the two companies’ teams had generated genuine enthusiasm around co-development opportunities, particularly in eWallet-linked lending and short-duration loan products where demand is clear but mainstream bank credit is inaccessible.
The strategic logic is compelling given the scale of the addressable market. As noted by African Markets, Optasia estimates its potential reach at approximately 860 million underserved mobile network users through its telecom distribution partnerships, of whom only around 120 million are currently active on the platform — a gap that signals substantial runway for growth without requiring entry into new geographies. The company operates across 38 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, processing more than 34 million transactions daily, and has signalled that expansion into East Asia, Kenya, Egypt and Indonesia is a near-term priority. For 2026, Optasia said it expects to outperform listing guidance, targeting sustained growth in the low-to-mid-20% range across revenue, adjusted EBITDA and net income, with collaborative initiatives with FirstRand spanning product development, market expansion and funding structures.