Carbon vs Kuda: The experiment to improve banking for digital natives

“I ran back because of the crowd. I’ll rather stay without the cards than waste my time queuing”, my friend lamented on Twitter last Friday. Apparently, she just returned from two banks without making her request for an ATM card.

Issues like hers are more frustrating when you consider that many banking apps are simply payment apps. You can see your account balance, send money, buy recharge cards, but you can’t find a solution to basic complaints. All roads usually lead to the physical bank branch.

But over the last few years, a new breed of banks—challengers, digital, or neobanks—have launched across the world and they’re trying to change the delivery of financial services. 

Carbon, Kuda, Rubies, VBank, and Sparkle, are five major examples of this new breed of companies with a banking licence in Nigeria. At the surface, these upstarts are taking advantage of what they believe is a