The SoftBank-backed payments company priced its shares at $19 on Friday, valuing it at about $4 billion. A day later it said they would not trade, pointing to an inquiry by a regulator it has not named.

Published 31 Oct 2026, 11:34 GMTUpdated 31 Oct 2026, 11:40 GMT

3 min read

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A giant OPay banner hangs across the front of the New York Stock Exchange, above US flags and an OPay-branded truck parked on the street — An OPay banner on the New York Stock Exchange building. The fintech's shares were due to begin trading on Friday but never opened.

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Nigerian fintech OPay has called off its New York stock market listing a day after pricing shares to raise $304 million, blaming a regulatory inquiry in a foreign jurisdiction it has not named.

The SoftBank-backed company said on Saturday that it and its underwriters had "mutually agreed to terminate" the underwriting agreement dated October 29.

It said its American depositary shares would not begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange as scheduled. OPay did not identify the country, the authority or the subject of the inquiry.

It described the jurisdiction as immaterial to its core business and said it expected the matter to be resolved soon.

On Friday, OPay sold 16 million American depositary shares at $19 each, the bottom of its marketed $19-to-$21 range, Reuters reported. The price valued the company at about $4 billion, double the $2 billion valuation at which it raised $400 million in 2021.

OPay said the decision should not be read as a reflection of its performance, financial condition or regulatory standing. It said its services in Nigeria, Indonesia, Egypt and Pakistan were running normally and reaffirmed its long-term commitment to Nigeria, its biggest market.

Standard Bank Group, parent of Stanbic Bank Ghana, was one of the underwriters, alongside Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and China International Capital Corporation.

Its Stanbic Africa Holdings unit had also agreed to buy up to $200 million of new OPay shares in a private placement. According to OPay's amended prospectus, that placement depended on the IPO going ahead.

OPay was founded in 2018 by Chinese billionaire Zhou Yahui, who also founded Beijing Kunlun Tech, the gaming company that once owned the dating app Grindr. Its single app offers payments, transfers, savings and loans.

According to its prospectus, it had about 50 million monthly active users as of July 31. SoftBank entities held a 6.6 per cent stake before the offering.

The company had also planned a secondary listing on the Nigerian Exchange after New York; its board and shareholders approved it in October, Nairametrics reported.

OPay has not said what happens to that listing or to the Stanbic placement. It said only that it would give updates as material developments occur.

Araba IncoomAraba Incoom writes on multiple topics with a vast knowledge across different sector. You can almost call me an AI, after all, my initials are Araba Incoom.

OPay cancels its $304m New York IPO just hours after pricing it — a foreign regulator probe caused it

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