If you came here looking for a Kuda code to dial, the honest answer is worth knowing before you waste airtime on it.
Kuda is built app-first. Unlike the commercial banks and unlike fintech rivals such as OPay on *955# or Moniepoint on *5573#, Kuda has not launched its own short code for general account management. There is no Kuda menu to dial into, no offline balance check, and no Kuda-to-other-bank transfer code.
That still leaves you with real options, and this covers them.
A Note on *919#
You will see *919# listed on various sites as the Kuda code. It belongs to UBA.
Dial it and you will land in UBA’s banking menu, which does nothing for a Kuda account unless you also bank with UBA and are using it to send money across. It is a genuinely useful code, just not a Kuda one.
Fintech short codes do change, and Kuda could launch one at any point. If you want to be certain of the current position, ask through in-app support or Kuda’s official channels rather than trusting any list you read online, this one included.
Funding Your Kuda Account by USSD
This is the part that genuinely works without internet. You dial your other bank’s code and send money into Kuda.
Two things you need first: your Kuda account number, which is usually your registered phone number without the leading zero, and Kuda’s bank code 416, which some menus ask for instead of a bank name.
| Sending from | Dial |
|---|---|
| GTBank | *737*50*Amount*416# |
| First Bank | *894*Amount*KudaAccountNumber# |
| Access Bank | *901*Amount*KudaAccountNumber# |
| UBA | *919*4*KudaAccountNumber*Amount# |
| Zenith Bank | *966*Amount*KudaAccountNumber# |
| Wema Bank | *945*KudaAccountNumber*Amount# |
Dial from the phone number registered to the sending bank account, not the Kuda one. When the menu asks for the destination bank, choose Kuda Microfinance Bank, sometimes shown as Kuda MFB.
Read the recipient name on screen before you confirm. That half-second check is the only thing between a mistyped digit and money gone to a stranger, and reversals are slow and not guaranteed.
What USSD Actually Costs You
Worth being straight about this, because it gets described as free more often than it should.
Nigerian networks bill USSD sessions directly to your airtime under the end-user billing arrangement, so every session costs a small amount whether or not the transaction goes through. Your bank may add its own service fee on top, and fintechs generally do. On transfers of ₦10,000 and above, the ₦50 electronic money transfer levy applies as it does everywhere else.
None of that makes USSD expensive. It is still cheaper than a trip to an ATM and far cheaper than burning data on a slow connection. It just is not free, and it is better to know that than to be surprised by the deduction.
Everything Else Runs Through the App
For balance checks, sending money out of Kuda, buying airtime and data, paying bills, and managing your card, the app is the route. Log in, tap Pay, choose Send to bank account, pick the bank, enter the account number and amount, and confirm with your transaction PIN, fingerprint or Face ID.
If you have not set a transaction PIN yet, do that first in your security settings. It is required for every transfer, airtime purchase and withdrawal, and it is the main thing standing between someone holding your unlocked phone and your balance.
On a weak connection, the app struggles more than a USSD session would, which is exactly the gap people are trying to fill when they search for a code. If your data is the problem rather than Kuda, our guide on fixing slow mobile internet is worth a look.
If You Need Offline Banking, Plan for It
Being app-only is a real limitation if you are often somewhere with poor signal, or if you sometimes carry a button phone.
The practical workaround is keeping a second account somewhere with a working USSD menu, and treating that as your offline wallet. OPay on *955# and Moniepoint on *5573# both have full menus that work with no internet at all, and our guide to OPay’s USSD codes covers those in detail. Any commercial bank account gives you the same fallback.
Keep a little money in whichever one you choose, and you are covered on the days the network is against you.
Keeping the Account Safe
A word on the security claim you sometimes see attached to USSD, which is that the codes are encrypted and therefore safe.
USSD sessions run over your network’s signalling channel and are not end-to-end encrypted the way a banking app’s connection is. That does not make them dangerous for everyday use, and millions of Nigerians bank this way daily. But it does mean the real protection is your PIN and your phone, not the technology itself.
- Never share your PIN or an OTP, with anyone, including someone claiming to be from Kuda. No legitimate staff member will ask.
- Lock your phone properly, and lock the Kuda app itself behind a fingerprint.
- Do not save your PIN anywhere on the phone.
- Know what to do if the phone goes missing. Our guide on what to do when your phone is lost or stolen in Nigeria covers freezing your money before anything else.
A few broader phone security habits are worth building in if you run money through your phone daily.
Save your Kuda account number and the code 416 somewhere you can reach without your phone. That combination is what lets anyone send you money from any bank’s USSD menu, and it is the closest thing to a Kuda code there currently is.
