In July 2022, Kenya’s Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) got a court order to freeze 56 bank accounts belonging to Flutterwave, Africa’s largest fintech, and others, on allegations that the company was running a fraudulent operation.
According to the ARA, the accounts, which held Sh7 billion, were used as conduits for money laundering in the guise of providing merchant services. The agency said it began investigations after activities and transactions in the seven companies involved were flagged on suspicion that they were proceeds of crime. It also said that the fintech was illegally operating in Kenya, because it has no valid license from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
Days later, Flutterwave was banned in Kenya alongside other companies from running fintech operation.
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“Flutterwave is not licensed to operate as a remittance provider or, for that matter, as a PSB service provider in Kenya.
“They are not licensed to operate, so they shouldn’t be operating. We can also say the same for Chipper Cash,” Patrick Njoroge, Kenya’s central bank governor said.
However, the ARA rescinded the ban in February 2023 after its investigations cleared Flutterwave of wrongdoings. The Africa’s most valuable fintech said in a statement on Thursday, that it welcomes the Agency’s decision and looks forward to expanding its operation in the East African country.
Read the fintech’s statement below:
Flutterwave welcomes the withdrawal of claims against the company by the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) in July 2022 and looks forward to market expansion in Kenya. As a result, Flutterwave has been cleared of any wrongdoing. Flutterwave has fully cooperated with all stages of this review.
This update resolves an ongoing challenge which began when the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) obtained an ex parte court order to review the bank accounts of several foreign owned technology firms, including Flutterwave Payments Technology Limited Kenya (Flutterwave Kenya).
“We are pleased to have this matter resolved so we can resume our work with our strategic partners in Kenya, providing innovative payment solutions to companies and individuals in one of Africa’s largest and most dynamic economies,” said Flutterwave Founder and CEO, Olugbenga Agboola. “The fintech sector in Africa, with its new entrants and accelerated pace of growth attracts a considerable amount of scrutiny and at times, suspicion. Given our own rapid growth and status as a first mover, we anticipate and welcome the opportunity to be transparent about our operations and cooperate with regulators.”
Flutterwave is a payments technology company founded in 2016 with the mission to simplify transactions to accelerate international commerce and economic growth in Africa. Flutterwave has its headquarters in San Francisco and its main operating base in, with operations in over 30 African countries. In a short period, Flutterwave has become a major driver of commerce and economic growth in Africa, serving more than one million businesses and processing more than 400 million transactions worth over $25 billion since inception.
Flutterwave supports thousands of jobs in Kenya, including Uber drivers, food vendors, and others that rely on the payment platform for their daily income.
“We are looking forward to continuing with our mission to simplify payments for endless possibilities in Kenya. We will continue to be the payment partner of choice for any Kenyan business looking to start locally and grow globally and any foreign firm looking to expand their business in Kenya,” CEO Agboola said.
Flutterwave has instituted a number of changes over the past year to ensure all internal governance structures are best-in-class. It has continued to take steps to strengthen its risk and governance and recently hired Emmanuel Efenure from Mastercard, as VP and Head of Risk for Africa. These steps are in addition to existing arrangements with Big four companies who support independent internal audit programs in support of the efforts done internally by the Flutterwave team. All company policies are subject to annual reviews conducted by third-party audit firms in the areas of AML/CFT, data privacy, information security, and finance.
“We take corporate governance and transparency very seriously at Flutterwave,” said Cathy Kinyua, Flutterwave’s Regional Expansions and Partnerships Manager, East Africa. “This update should reassure our partners and stakeholders across the continent that we have complied with all regulations and laws in Kenya, as well as all other markets where we operate.”
Flutterwave’s recent highlights include obtaining a Payment Services Provider and Facilitator Licenses in Egypt, a Switching and Processing License by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) – widely regarded as CBN’s most valuable payments processing license – and announcing a collaboration with Google Pay. Flutterwave also renewed its operational license in Tanzania and South Africa, as well as its IMTO license in Nigeria. In June 2022, the company announced the appointments of OnealBhambani(Ex-Amex) to CFO and Gurbhej Dillon (Ex-GoldmanSachs) as CTO, adding to Flutterwave’s world-class talent.