About 40 million Nigerians who use OPay each month could soon pay for foreign streaming, software and other subscriptions straight from the wallet, after payments company EBANX said on Friday, October 23, 2026, that it is the first global payments firm to go live with OPay Direct Debit. The feature lets a subscription service charge your OPay account every billing cycle after you approve it once inside the OPay app, so you don’t have to re-enter payment details or be present for each renewal.
What the announcement doesn’t include is a single named merchant. EBANX described its targets as global subscription businesses “from streaming to SaaS”, but it didn’t say which app or service will offer OPay at checkout first, so nothing changes on your Netflix, Spotify or ChatGPT bill today. The switch only matters once a service that works with EBANX turns the option on for Nigerian customers.
| Announced | 23 October 2026 |
|---|---|
| What it does | Lets subscription services bill an OPay wallet automatically after one approval |
| How you approve | One-time authorisation inside the OPay app |
| Merchants live | Not confirmed |
| OPay monthly active users | About 40 million, per the announcement |
| Country | Nigeria |
Why a wallet option matters more than another card
Most foreign subscriptions still expect a debit or credit card, and the numbers EBANX quoted show why that leaves many Nigerians out. Citing the World Bank, it said only 5% of Nigerian adults own a credit card, while World Data Lab figures it analysed suggest about 95% of online spending in the country comes from people without one. Digital wallets and bank transfers together make up 65% of e-commerce volume, according to PCMI data in the same release.
OPay’s Chief Commercial Officer, Elizabeth Wang, said the integration “will give Nigerians an easy, fast and convenient way to pay for the global digital services they love”. EBANX already handles recurring payments through local methods in 13 countries, and its closest example of how this could look is South Africa, where it enabled recurring payments for Canva through Capitec Pay. Canva has been adding tools Nigerian users can reach, including its own AI image model, but neither company has said Canva will bill OPay wallets.
One approval today means automatic charges later
The convenience is the same thing that deserves care. Once you authorise a merchant, it can take future renewals without asking you again, so a free trial you forget about turns into a charge on your wallet balance. The announcement doesn’t explain how you view or cancel an active mandate in the OPay app, so look for that option before you approve your first one, and keep a note of every service you’ve linked.
Approve a mandate only from a checkout you started yourself on the service’s own website or app, which then hands you over to the OPay app. A text, WhatsApp message or call asking you to “authorise” a subscription you didn’t sign up for is a scam, the same kind of pressure tactic used by the fraud networks behind the 3.7 million scam accounts Meta deleted this month.
How to tell when it reaches a service you pay for
The first sign will be OPay appearing as a payment method when you subscribe or renew from Nigeria, so check the payment options the next time a foreign service asks for your card. EBANX’s Chief Product Officer, Eduardo de Abreu, said the launch “creates a significant opportunity for global merchants to expand recurring payment coverage”, which tells you the next move belongs to the merchants rather than to you. If you’ve been relying on a dollar card or a friend’s account to pay for an app, keep that arrangement in place and switch only once your own checkout shows OPay.
