The news:
Pan-African leading payment platform, Flutterwave, has procured a Switching and Processing Licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Why it matters:
The licence obtained is the CBN’s most valuable payments processing licence. With it, Flutterwave is now eligible to register under the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), with Memorandum and Article of Association (MEMART) as stated by CBN.
The company has permission to enable transactions between banks, other fintech companies, and financial institutions. They will also be able to process card transactions, participate in agency banking and provide various payment services without any intermediary, as well as give authorized access to non-bank takeover, agency banking and payment gateway services.
What the company is saying:
Speaking on the development, Olugbenga GB Agboola, CEO and Founder of Flutterwave said, “This is big news for our customers, partners, investors, and other stakeholders. It is an important milestone in our growth story. Building a thriving payments ecosystem in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is in line with our goal of developing a world-class and secure payment infrastructure for global merchants and payment service providers across the continent.”
The company’s Chief Regulatory and Government Affairs Officer, Oluwabankole Falade added that, “The application process was very rigorous and included a detailed review of our operations as a business. As a switch, we have more responsibilities and will continue to work with Regulators to ensure we meet and exceed their expectations.”
Speaking on the functions of the licence, Onyedikachim Nwankwo, Head of Product Marketing stated that, “The license will allow us to offer more services and explore more payment use cases for our ecosystem. With this license, we can offer more value to our customers while taking more control of our value chain to enable an improved payments experience for our enterprise, medium scale, and retail customers.”
The application and review process by the CBN was a demanding and rigorous one that examined every aspect of Flutterwave’s business, including the company’s financial position.
