Mambu, a SaaS cloud banking platform headquartered in the Netherlands, has entered into a strategic partnership with Nyla, described as Africa’s pioneering Islamic neobank, to provide Shari’ah-compliant digital banking services.
Nyla is set to launch its operations initially in Ghana, followed by expansions into West African countries such as Nigeria, Senegal, and Gambia.
The collaboration will enable Nyla to leverage Mambu’s API-first, cloud-native core banking platform, hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), for the launch of digital current and savings wallets, peer-to-peer transfers, bill payments, and card-linked accounts. Customer-facing transactions will be managed within Mambu’s core system, while customer funds will be safeguarded by Nyla’s licensed banking partners.
Tackling an underserved market
The Islamic finance sector is estimated to exceed USD 7 trillion globally, yet Africa accounts for a mere 2% of this total. Despite the significant demand for ethical and interest-free financial services in Muslim-majority regions and among underserved communities across the continent, Nyla aims to fill this gap through its digital-first approach. By utilizing Mambu’s composable platform, Nyla seeks to accelerate its time-to-market without the need to independently develop core infrastructure.
Prior to launching in June 2026, Nyla has already garnered over 33,000 users on its waitlist. The neobank aims to onboard 10,000 customers within the first month, process USD 500,000 in total transaction volume across all products, and attract a cumulative 400,000 users by year-end 2026.
Over the next two to three years, Nyla intends to broaden its offerings to include physical debit cards, remittances, buy now pay later options, Shari’ah-compliant investment products like Sukuk, and a dedicated business banking service.
Commenting on this partnership, Mark Geneste, Mambu’s Chief Revenue Officer, emphasized the platform’s capability to support innovative Islamic and non-interest banking solutions. Mubarak Sumaila, Nyla’s CEO, stated that the ultimate vision is to establish the largest Islamic bank globally, starting with digital products and eventually becoming an infrastructure provider for Islamic finance across Africa and beyond.
