NylaBank and Mambu launch Africa’s first digital Islamic neobank

By:  Nana Appiah Acquaye

NylaBank, Africa’s first digital Islamic neobank, has partnered with Mambu, a leading SaaS cloud banking platform, to launch shari’ah-compliant digital banking services in Ghana, with plans to expand across West Africa. The collaboration provides NylaBank with scalable, cloud-native infrastructure to deliver a full suite of digital financial services without the need to build its own core banking system.

The partnership addresses a significant gap in Africa’s Islamic finance market, which represents just 2% of the global $7 trillion industry despite strong demand for ethical, values-based banking. At launch, NylaBank will offer digital current and savings wallets, peer-to-peer transfers, bill payments, and card-linked accounts. Mambu’s core banking engine, running on Amazon Web Services, enables account management, product configuration, and transaction processing, supporting expansion into markets including Nigeria, Senegal, and The Gambia.

“The global Islamic finance market represents a significant and underserved opportunity, particularly across Africa. Nyla is addressing that gap with a digital-first, values-driven model, and we are proud to power their core infrastructure,” said Mark Geneste, Chief Revenue Officer at Mambu.

NylaBank has already attracted over 33,000 users on its waitlist. Following an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round, the neobank aims to process $500,000 in total transactions and reach 400,000 users by the end of 2026. CEO Mubarak Sumaila said the long-term vision is to become the largest Islamic bank in the world, providing a full infrastructure layer for Islamic finance across Africa while maintaining ethical banking principles.

Over the next two to three years, NylaBank plans to expand its offerings to include physical debit cards, remittances, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services, shari’ah-compliant investment instruments such as Sukuk, and a dedicated business banking solution. All transactions will be processed through Mambu’s core system, while funds will be held with licensed banking partners.

Founded to expand access to Islamic finance, NylaBank combines ethical banking principles with modern digital infrastructure to deliver transparent, user-friendly financial services, positioning itself as a scalable solution for Africa’s growing and underserved Islamic finance market.