Africa’s number one payment technology platform Flutterwave have been granted a Switching and Processing License by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The top-tier licence, which is popularly regarded as the Apex Bank’s most valuable payments processing licence, allows Flutterwave to carry out transactions between financial service providers, merchants, customers and other stakeholders without intermediaries.
The license will also allow the company to offer a variety of new services, including non-bank acquiring, payment gateway service, transaction switching and card processing services to customers.
Prior to this licensing, Flutterwave operated in Nigeria with its Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) and International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) licenses which had certain limitations as the company had to go through different partners to facilitate transactions effectively. This development is part of a move by the company to process transactions directly, and it will allow it to process transactions faster, launch new and improve existing products, and improve the payment experience.
According to the company’s official website, the licencing review process was accompanied by ‘rigorous and tough’ checks across every single part of Flutterwave’s business, and the successful acquisition of the licence means the company has ‘demonstrated the highest level of security standards in Nigeria.’
This was also acknowledged by the company’s Chief Regulatory and Government Affairs Officer, Oluwabankole Falade, who spoke on the development. “We’re thrilled to have been issued this licence after fulfilling all of the regulatory requirements. 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,” he said.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Flutterwave, Olugbenga Agboola, commented on this achievement, stating that the situation is very significant for the company.
“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,” Olugbenga said.
Flutterwave, now Africa’s largest unicorn, is valued at $3 billion. The company which came under prosecution for financial irregularities in Kenya a few days ago have seen a huge leap in credibility with this development. The startup now joins Interswitch, TeamApt, and Appzone as some of the companies with the high-profile license in Nigeria.
