A bank built for the ones who start small and refuse to stay small
Viscount Microfinance Bank Limited is a Tier 1 Unit microfinance bank licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, headquartered in Abuja and serving individuals and growing businesses across Nigeria. We exist to give the people and businesses that larger banks keep waiting a bank that is fast, transparent and properly regulated.
Nigeria's economy runs on people the banking system was not built for
The trader who opens before dawn, the logistics firm meeting payroll on the 25th, the founder who signed the lease before the money landed. Most of Nigeria's jobs and output come from small businesses and self-employed people, and most of them are either unbanked or under-served by institutions designed for someone else.
The Central Bank of Nigeria licenses microfinance banks specifically to close that gap: to mobilise savings from, and lend to, the individuals and small enterprises that larger banks overlook. Viscount was founded to do that job with the tools the job now demands: an account opened from a phone, transfers that clear in seconds, credit decided on evidence, and every charge shown before it is incurred.
Four commitments that show up in every product
These are not values on a wall. Each one is a design rule that decides what we build and what we refuse to.
Priced in the open
Every fee, rate and tax is shown before you confirm and itemised on your statement. If a charge is not on the screen, it does not exist.
Decided on evidence
Credit, limits and upgrades are decided on what your account shows, not on who you know. We tell you what we looked at.
Controls in your hands
Limits, rules, roles and locations are set by you and enforced by us. The bank holds the line you drew.
A regulator behind every promise
We are supervised by the CBN and insured by the NDIC. Every commitment on this site can be escalated to someone who is not us.
Built in-house, on Nigeria's own rails
Viscount's core banking platform, mobile app and business tools are designed and built by our own team in Abuja. Owning the technology is how we ship a control a customer asked for in weeks rather than waiting for a vendor's roadmap.
- NIBSS Instant PaymentEvery transfer to or from another bank travels on the national instant-payment network with a session ID, the same rail as any Nigerian bank.
- BVN and NIN at the doorIdentity is verified against the national registers before an account is opened, under the CBN's tiered KYC framework.
- Verve cards, Nigerian schemeDebit cards are issued on Verve, accepted at every ATM and POS in the country, and controlled entirely from the app.
- West Africa Time, everywhereEvery cut-off, rule window and statement line is in WAT. There is no server somewhere else deciding what day it is.
The banking arm of a wider financial services group
Viscount Microfinance Bank is the licensed deposit-taking institution within the Viscount Group. Each arm of the group is separately licensed and regulated for what it does; the bank's deposits and lending sit only with the bank.
Banking
Viscount Microfinance Bank Limited. Accounts, savings, deposits, credit and business banking, licensed by the CBN and insured by the NDIC.
Insurance
Cover for the assets and people the bank finances, arranged through the group's insurance arm under its own regulatory licence.
Payments
Collections, disbursements and merchant acceptance for businesses, integrated with the bank's accounts and settlement.
Digital commerce
Marketplace and asset platforms that bring the bank's credit to the point where a customer buys a vehicle, equipment or stock.
How a microfinance bank is held to account
A bank licence is a set of obligations, not a badge. These are the ones that govern Viscount, and they apply whether or not a customer ever reads this page.
- Licence
- Licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a Tier 1 Unit microfinance bank under the Revised Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for Microfinance Banks, code 051126.
- Board and management
- Directors and senior officers are subject to the CBN's fit-and-proper approval before appointment. The board oversees risk, audit and credit through committees that meet on a fixed calendar.
- Prudential supervision
- Minimum capital, liquidity ratios, single-obligor limits and loan provisioning are set by the CBN and examined on-site. Returns are filed with the regulator on the schedule it sets.
- Deposit insurance
- Deposits are insured with the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, currently up to ₦2,000,000 per depositor, across savings, current and fixed deposits. The NDIC also examines the bank.
- Consumer protection
- Bound by the CBN's Consumer Protection Framework and Regulations: disclosure before commitment, fair treatment, a complaints process with deadlines, and escalation to the CBN after fourteen working days.
- Anti-money-laundering
- Customer identification, transaction monitoring and reporting to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit under the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act and CBN AML/CFT regulations, with records retained for the statutory period.
- Data protection
- Customer data is processed under the Nigeria Data Protection Act. We collect what the account needs, encrypt it at rest and in transit, and never sell it. A privacy notice sets out exactly what we hold and why.
- Audit and whistleblowing
- Internal audit reports to the board, and the accounts are audited annually by an external firm approved under CBN rules. Staff and customers can raise concerns confidentially through the whistleblowing channel, including to the board directly.
A team that builds the bank it would want to use
Viscount is run from Abuja by a team that spans banking operations, credit, compliance, product and engineering. Most of the people who build the app are also its customers, which is why a slow screen or an unexplained charge tends not to survive long.
- LeadershipThe board and executive team are listed, with their CBN-approved roles, on the Leadership page.
- CareersWe hire in operations, credit, compliance, engineering and design, in Abuja. Open roles are on the Careers page.
- DevelopersBusinesses that want to build on Viscount's accounts, transfers and webhooks will find the documentation on the Developers page.
Head office and how to reach us
- Registered name
- Viscount Microfinance Bank Limited
- Head office
- 13, Yalinga Street, Off Ademola Adetokunbo, Wuse 2, Abuja, FCT, Nigeria
- Regulator
- Central Bank of Nigeria · MFB code 051126
- Deposit insurer
- Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation
- Customer support
- support.viscountbank.com · 7am – 8pm WAT, every day
- Complaints escalation
- CBN Consumer Protection Department, after 14 working days
About Viscount
What is a microfinance bank?+
What does "Tier 1 Unit" mean?+
Is Viscount a bank or a fintech?+
Who owns Viscount?+
Where can I bank with Viscount?+
How do I raise a concern about the bank itself?+
Banking the bold
For the ones who start small and refuse to stay small. Open an account from your phone, and bring your business when it is ready.
