Fintech Insider Podcast by 11:FS · Sep 24, 2026 · 49m · 37m saved
With Merusha Naidu, Global Head of Partnerships at Paymentology · Ibrahim Oladele, Founder and CEO of Maxim · Valerie Kontor, Founder of Black in Fintech
Ibrahim Oladele moved from Nigeria to the UK in 2021 with a funded company and a public financial record. It took him three months to rent a house, six months to open an account at a digital bank and 26 months to get a credit card.
A new arrival with a good job and years of history at home is treated by lenders as if they had no history at all. Oladele's company, Maxim, has just launched a UK credit card for the Nigerian diaspora that underwrites people on data from the country they came from, with Paymentology running the card processing.
"Ibrahim in Nigeria is still Ibrahim in the UK, right — I don't need to pay the poverty premium when I moved to the UK, even if I'm from Nigeria and I wasn't poor coming from Nigeria."
Oladele, founder and CEO of Maxim, who built and sold a cross-border payments platform before it, and Merusha Naidu, global head of partnerships at Paymentology, who went through the same thing moving from South Africa, spoke on Fintech Insider with Valerie Kontor, founder of Black in Fintech, who works in credit products at a bank.
The full episode is covered here so you can skip it. 49 minutes of audio, 12 minutes of reading.
Here are the 12 lessons that matter.
Key Takeaways
A border works like a reset button: skilled newcomers cannot open a bank account, rent a flat or get a phone contract
Credit underwriting is national by design, so a good record in Nigeria counts for nothing in the UK
Data rules and inconsistent scores hold lenders back, and Naidu said customer consent should unlock the data
Maxim underwrites on local alternative data, such as airtime loans in Nigeria and mobile money in Ghana
Diaspora customers need more than remittances: accounts, credit, savings and bills in two countries at once
Digital banks will move first, then fintechs, with large banks years behind, Naidu predicted
Trust spreads by word of mouth, as a remittance app's bus ads in South London showed
Oladele's one wish is for foreign behavioral data to count as a legitimate underwriting input
1. A Border Is a Reset
Benjamin Ensor, director of research and strategy at 11:FS, introduced the partnership: Maxim's UK credit card program, starting with the Nigerian diaspora, with Paymentology providing the issuer processing behind it. He asked Naidu what happens when someone moves country.
Easy to visit, hard to move
Cards work abroad far more easily than in the days of travelers' checks, Naidu said, but moving is a different matter.
"I think when you think about it, a border can really act like a reset button" — Merusha Naidu
A skilled person with a stable income and years of history at home expects to open an account, rent an apartment and get a phone contract.
"But then you land in the country and it's like you're nobody — you have no credit history, you are completely excluded from all of these different tools or financial services." — Merusha Naidu
When she moved from South Africa she could not open an account at any of the big UK banks and had to take her South African statements to a digital bank. The first month, before the visa and the first pay slip arrive, was the scariest part, she said.
Worse than being 16
Ensor said that is worse than being a 16-year-old, who at least has an identity. Naidu agreed.
"We don't fit within the local system, we fall outside of that." — Merusha Naidu
It is an identity problem as well as a credit risk, she said.
