Verve to launch phone tap-to-pay and AI agent payments in Nigeria

What Verve is rolling out

Verve will introduce phone tap-to-pay functionality, allowing users to make payments by tapping their phones instead of using physical cards. This builds on its existing contactless payment and tokenisation efforts, which have already seen adoption across its network of 130 million cards in Nigeria.

Alongside tap-to-pay, Verve plans to launch AI agent-driven payments. These would enable AI assistants to complete transactions on behalf of users based on predefined instructions, reducing the need for manual input. The approach mirrors initiatives recently announced by Visa and Mastercard in 2025.

Market context and competition

Verve’s push into AI-driven payments arrives as transfers dominate Nigeria’s payment landscape. The NIBSS Instant Payment system reported 11.2 billion transactions worth ₦1.07 quadrillion in 2024, signaling a shift toward digital and frictionless payment methods.

The company’s move also positions it alongside global card schemes like Visa and Mastercard, both of which have announced AI-driven payment initiatives. Verve’s focus on phone-based tap-to-pay and AI agents could differentiate its offering in Nigeria’s competitive payments market, where Interswitch’s suite of products—including Quickteller and POS terminals—already plays a significant role.

Verve’s plans reflect a broader trend of financial services companies addressing friction in payments. Interswitch, Verve’s parent company, has historically framed its product developments as solutions to payment inefficiencies, a narrative that aligns with this latest announcement.

What this means

Lazyfounder analysis — our interpretation, not reported fact.

Verve’s announcement underscores the accelerating race to remove friction from payments, a trend that is reshaping both local and global markets. For founders and operators in Nigeria’s fintech space, this move signals two key developments: first, that Verve is doubling down on contactless and AI-driven features to compete with global card schemes, and second, that the Nigerian market is becoming a testing ground for innovations that may later scale across Africa.

The introduction of phone tap-to-pay could reduce reliance on physical cards, a shift that may appeal to users already accustomed to mobile-first payment methods. Meanwhile, AI agent-driven payments could open new use cases for automating recurring transactions, a feature that may attract businesses and power users.

For competitors, Verve’s timeline—targeting 2026—provides a window to either accelerate their own roadmaps or differentiate by focusing on underserved niches, such as rural adoption or merchant-focused tools. The announcement also serves as a reminder that infrastructure plays, like Interswitch’s broader ecosystem, can create advantages for affiliated products like Verve.

Related on Lazyfounder

• Interswitch
• Visa
• Mastercard
• Grey launches Paycheck for global salary earners as Mastercard brings Google Pay to Nigeria
• More technology news