Kuda is moving on from the ‘bank of the free’ pitch
When Kuda launched in Nigeria in 2019, it did not need a complicated pitch. Bank from your phone. Send money without the usual fees. Forget the queues and branch visits. The company called itself the “bank of the free”, and the message stuck. So did the purple branding and the standalone “K”. Seven years later,
Kuda is moving on from the ‘bank of the free’ pitch
When Kuda launched in Nigeria in 2019, it did not need a complicated pitch. Bank from your phone. Send money without the usual fees. Forget the queues and branch visits. The company called itself the “bank of the free”, and the message stuck. So did the purple branding and the standalone “K”. Seven years later, Kuda is changing that identity. On August 6, the digital bank introduced “More Life”, its new brand platform. The standalone “K” is gone, replaced by the full Kuda name. The company has also changed its typeface, colours and the way it uses images in its marketing. The timing is important. A lot of what made Kuda interesting in 2019 is now normal. Nigerians have plenty of options for sending money from their phones, opening digital accounts and paying bills without walking into a bank. Kuda is now trying to make the case for why customers should do more of their financial business with it. “People are no longer just trying to break free in 2026,” Emmanuel Femi-Adejobi, Kuda’s senior brand manager, told TechCabal. “People are trying to move up, to rise financially, socially, professionally, and they are trying to be more.”
The K is gone
The logo change is probably the easiest part of the rebrand to notice. Kuda now uses its full name in geometric lettering. Purple remains, although lavender, off-white and darker grey have been added to the palette. Adeniyi Okeowo, Kuda’s head of creative, said the full name was chosen partly because it would be easier to recognise, particularly on social media. The bigger change is in the imagery. Kuda’s new campaign shows people in places such as Tarkwa Bay and Lagos markets. There are fewer phones, cards and screenshots of transactions. The company says that is intentional. “We didn’t want it to just be your typical photographs where somebody’s doing a fist bump after making a transfer,” Okeowo said. It is a different way of talking about a bank. Instead of showing the transaction, Kuda wants to show what the money is being used for.
Kuda’s customers have changed too
Kuda says its research found that its customers are not in the same place they were when the bank launched. Some are running businesses. Some have several income streams. Others are simply looking for more from the financial services they use. That is where “More Life” comes in. “For us, More Life is basically our commitment to the customers. We feel money enables life,” Okeowo said. Kuda is also putting more weight behind Kuda Premium, its existing rewards programme. The bank says it will offer more discounts, partnerships and experiences linked to customers’ interests. That is not a dramatic change to the business. It is an attempt to give customers more reasons to keep using Kuda after opening an account.
The market caught up
Kuda had a relatively clear space when it launched. Traditional banks were still dealing with complaints about fees, queues and slow processes, while digital banking was becoming more familiar. That space is much more crowded now. Fast transfers are standard. Mobile banking is standard. Digital accounts are standard. And the bigger fintechs are moving into more parts of the financial system. Paystack restructured in January under the Stack Group, bringing Paystack Microfinance Bank, Zap and TSG Labs into the group. Flutterwave has also moved beyond payments. Its acquisition of Mono gave it access to a national microfinance banking licence and a route into deposit-taking and other banking services. The direction is clear across the sector: getting a customer to make a payment is useful, but keeping that customer for savings, credit and other financial products is worth more. Kuda has to deal with the same reality.
There are still millions of customers to reach
Nigeria’s financial market is far from settled. The Access to Finance survey found that formal financial inclusion rose to 64% in 2023, from 56% in 2020. There are still many adults outside the formal financial system, giving digital banks room to bring in new customers. But Kuda also has another route. It can try to get the people already using its app to use more of it. That is harder than it sounds. Someone who opened a Kuda account because transfers were convenient can now find similar services elsewhere. Kuda needs to give that customer a reason to stay.
“Bank of the free” was easy to understand. It was about getting rid of the things customers disliked about banking. “More Life” is broader. Kuda is now talking about what customers do with their money rather than how they move it. That gives the company more room to talk about savings, credit, rewards and other products. But it also means the products have to support the message. The new logo will get attention. The campaign will get people talking. What matters after that is whether Kuda can become useful for more of the things its customers are already doing with their money. The bank that launched as an escape from traditional banking is now trying to convince customers that it can be part of what comes next.
