‘It’s Not Just the Name That is Changing’ – Chijioke Dozie Says as PayLater Plans Major Rebranding

Judging from a recent tweet, Paylater is about to make huge changes to its operations and scope. The lending app posted on its Twitter handle that it is about to undergo a major re-branding very soon.

The 'Paylater' name is changing, soon!

If you were to guess what the brand new name for our service is, what would you go with?🤔

Comment with your best idea, and why you chose that 👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/JBzs2MBobS

— Carbon (@get_carbon) March 1, 2019

Paylater further asked its users to guess what sort of name the app plans to rebrand as. No further detail was provided as regards the rebranding though.

But, according to another tweet by Chijioke Dozie, CEO of One Financial which owns Paylater, the rebranding could be a big deal.

“It’s not just the name that is changing,” Mr Dozie says but didn’t provide further details.

But regardless of how sudden the news about the rebranding seems, it isn’t exactly surprising. Since 2018, PayLater has been positioning itself as a dynamic financial services platform. Over the last few years, the startup has created a robust architecture to make its evolution simple and fluid.

Its not just the name that is changing…. https://t.co/Wvj2AhHnub

— Chijioke Dozie (@ChijiokeD) March 1, 2019

Originally starting out as a quick loans provider, the app has moved quickly to provide other financial services such as recharge cards, bills payment and even funds transfer.

At the end of 2018, the company processed half a million loan transactions worth N2.3 billion.

Also, through PayVest, the app provides investing solutions for users. PayVest promises investment returns of up to 15%.

In mid-January 2019, PayLater announced a few ambitious plans it had for 2019. First it launched a savings account targeted at female entrepreneurs. Then, it announced the launch of Paylater debit cards that will be paired with Paylater Wallets.

These two new features were the latest preludes to an official transformation into a full-fledged digital bank. Meanwhile in December 2018, One Finance scored a credit rating for itself like regular banks.

All these features put together positions Paylater as a truly sophisticated digital banking solution. So clearly, the name “Paylater” kind of limits its services and yanking it off will very likely serve the company well as it charts a new robust plan.

Yet, Paylater isn’t the only fintech startup making radical changes to their current operations. PiggyBank, now called PiggyVest, recently made serious changes to its business model and operations.

Originally a savings platform targeted at young people, PiggyVest appears to have pivoted. Although saving remains a core function of the platform, PiggyVest says it has bigger plans. The new name and branding is to “better reflect our growth, who we are and our vision”, they said.

Regardless though, both Paylater and PiggyVest appear to be heading in the same direction. The disruption of the Nigerian financial system is now more inevitable.