Nigerian and African-focused fintech company, Flutterwave has been granted a switching and processing license by the Central Bank Of Nigeria, which is regarded as CBN’s most valuable payments processing license.
Recall that the CBN last two years, in line with its commitment to promote a strong and credible payment system, approved new license categorizations for payment service providers, Banks, and other financial institutions in the country.
This license allows Flutterwave to offer transaction switching and card processing services to customers. Others include non-bank acquiring, agency banking, and payment gateway services.
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The switching and processing license will allow Flutterwave to enable transactions between banks, Fintechs, and other financial institutions. The company will also be able to process card transactions, participate in agency banking and offer various payment services without any intermediary.
Before this license, Flutterwave operated with its Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) and International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) licenses.
Commenting on this, the CEO and founder of Flutterwave, Olugbenga Agboola disclosed that Flutterwave securing its switching and processing license is big news for the company, its partners, customers, investors, and other stakeholders as Flutterwave has always sought to develop a world-class and secure payment infrastructure.
In his words;
”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 goals of developing a world-class and secure payment infrastructure for global merchants and payment service providers across the continent”.
Flutterwave’s Chief Regulatory And Government Affairs Officer, Oluwabankole Falade disclosed that going through the application process in order to secure a switching and processing license for the company was a rigorous process, however, the company and the whole team are thrilled that they have finally been granted the license by Nigeria’s apex bank.
See what he said;
”We’re thrilled to have been issued this license 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”.
Also reacting to this news, is Flutterwave’s Head of Product Marketing, Onyedikachim Nwankwo, who disclosed that the license will enable the company to offer more value to its customers.
In his words;
”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”.
Lately, this period has no doubt been an interesting time for Flutterwave, even as it deals with regulatory hurdles in its key markets. The company seem unperturbed by such a challenge, as it has continued to forge ahead by making significant giant strides in the Fintech sector.
A recent publication on Tekedia disclosed that Flutterwave is preparing for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in the United States, as it intends to use the proceeds from its listing to grow its expansion into new African opportunities. And now, the company has secured a switching and processing license from the Central Bank Of Nigeria. Indeed, Flutterwave has positioned itself for exponential growth.
At $3 billion, the company is currently the highest valued African startup. Following its recent achievements, the company will definitely witness an increase in valuation as the company is visibly hitting on all cylinders.