Casava Microinsurance, Kuda berth with first insurance product for POS merchants

Casava Microinsurance Limited (Casava), Nigeria’s first digital microinsurer, and Kuda Microfinance Bank have introduced “Merchant and Device Protection”, the first insurance product built specifically for POS merchants across Nigeria.

As of today, the product is live and already providing protection to Kuda merchants. For as low as N20 a day, a merchant can now protect their device, their business and their livelihood. Until now, no insurance product in Nigeria has been designed around these realities.

Casava is Nigeria’s first fully licensed digital microinsurance company, regulated by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

Kuda Microfinance Bank is a digital banking platform serving over 7 million customers in Nigeria, licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a national microfinance bank. Kuda processed N29 trillion in transactions in 2025.

What Merchant and Device Protection covers…

Casava’s Merchant and Device Protection bundles three types of coverage into a single product. Device Protection covers POS terminals against theft, armed robbery, accidental damage, and fire, including the cost of replacing the device. Merchant Fire Protection covers the merchant’s shop, kiosk, stall, or operating premises against fire and related perils. Business Continuity Support helps merchants minimize downtime and return to active operation after a covered incident. Onboarding, policy activation, and claims processing are all handled digitally.

This is not Casava’s first time responding to fire-related losses. When the Great Nigeria Insurance House fire devastated Balogun Market on Christmas Eve 2025, Casava paid claims to affected policyholders. Every Merchant and Device Protection policy carries the same standard: claims are processed digitally, and payments swiftly

Solabomi Oreagba, executive director (corporate services), Casava said, “POS Merchants are the most important financial infrastructure in Nigeria today. They process more money than ATMs, serve more people than bank branches, and reach deeper into communities than any other financial channel. Yet they operate with no safety net”.

“When a merchant is robbed or a market fire destroys their kiosk, they don’t just lose a device. They lose their income, their float, their livelihood, and the community they serve loses its closest access point to financial services.

“When the Balogun Market fire happened on Christmas Eve, we were there. We paid claims and supported their recovery. That experience confirmed what we already believed: the merchants powering Nigeria’s payment system deserve protection built for them, not afterthoughts. We built this product because we believe that if POS merchants are important enough to power a N75 trillion payment network, they are important enough to protect,” Oreagba noted.

Nosa Oyegun, SVP- Business Banking, Kuda added, “Kuda exists to make financial services more accessible for every Nigerian. Our merchants are at the front line of that mission. They are the people who make digital payments work in practice, in every market, every neighbourhood, every day”.

“That’s why the partners we work with matter. We partnered with Casava for POS devices and credit insurance, and it’s been a genuinely positive experience. Their professionalism, prompt responses, and commitment to understanding our needs have made every interaction smooth and reassuring. They offer reliable coverage and competitive pricing that delivers real value without cutting corners. Casava has proven to be a partner we can count on, and it’s a relationship we truly value!”, Oyegun said.

For every ATM left in Nigeria, there are 350 POS terminals. In first quarter (Q1) 2026 alone, those terminals processed N18.78 trillion in transactions, more than the entire POS industry processed in the whole of 2024.

Nearly six million active POS terminals are now the primary way Nigerians access cash and make payments. There is roughly one POS terminal for every 26 Nigerians. Over 95 percent of Nigerian adults rely on POS merchants and agents for at least one financial service.

Nigeria’s POS network has scaled fast. Transaction values grew from N10.7 trillion in 2023 to an annualised run-rate of over N75 trillion in 2026. The number of deployed terminals more than doubled in 2024 alone. An estimated 1.9 million POS operators now serve every corner of the country, supporting the livelihoods of 8 to 10 million Nigerians.

Yet this infrastructure sits on a brittle protection layer. According to an Intelpoint survey, 96.4 percent of Nigerian businesses carry no insurance of any kind.

Theft and robbery remain persistent threats to POS merchants. POS terminals accounted for over 26 percent of all fraud incidents reported to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) in 2023.

The Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN) reports that more than 10 agents lose their lives to robbery-related incidents annually, a figure widely regarded as an undercount. Armed attacks on POS operators have been documented across Lagos, Ibadan, Aba, Abeokuta, Edo, Adamawa, and Kano in 2025 and early 2026, with POS operators targeted for the cash they carry and the devices they operate.

Market fires are equally devastating. Nigeria recorded at least 25 major market fires in the first five months of 2025, with cumulative losses of over N30 billion across 42 incidents between January 2023 and April 2025. The Balogun Market fire on Christmas Eve 2025 killed at least 12 people and destroyed billions of naira in goods across a 22-storey commercial building. The Singer Market fire in Kano destroyed approximately 1,000 businesses and N5 billion in goods, all in a single night. After each disaster, the story is the same: traders left with nothing, no insurance payout, no path to recovery.

The cost of replacing a lost POS terminal has roughly doubled in two years. Entry-level devices now cost approximately N21,500, while Android terminals range from N62,000 to N85,000, driven by naira depreciation and the fact that all POS hardware is imported. For an agent earning N3,000 to N12,000 per day, replacing a stolen device can wipe out a month of income. The downtime alone, days to weeks without a working terminal, compounds the loss.