NIGERIA – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has awarded Flutterwave, the top payments technology firm in Africa, with a Switching and Processing License, widely considered the most important payments processing licence held by the CBN.

With the use of this license, Flutterwave can provide clients with transaction switching and card processing services. Non-bank acquiring, agency banking and payment gateway services are a few more.

With this, Flutterwave successfully joins the list of license holders that includes Interswitch, TeamApt, eTranzact, Unified Payments, Appzone, and Interswitch (the Visa-backed business considered Nigeria’s pioneer in payments switching).

“This is big news for our customers, partners, investors, and other stakeholders. It is an important milestone in our growth story,” CEO and Founder, Olugbenga GB Agboola said.

“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.”

Flutterwave’s Switching and Processing license enables transactions between banks, fintechs, and other financial institutions. The Company may also handle card transactions, participate in agency banking, and provide a variety of payment services without the use of an intermediary.

“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,” Flutterwave’s Chief Regulatory and Government Affairs Officer, Oluwabankole Falade said.

“As a switch, we have more responsibilities and will continue to work with Regulators to ensure we meet and exceed their expectations.”

Flutterwave previously operated under the Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) and International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) licenses.

“The license will allow us to offer more services and explore more payment use cases for our ecosystem,” Onyedikachim Nwankwo, Head of Product Marketing said.

“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.”

Fintech startup Vella launches its platform

Meanwhile, one of Nigeria’s fastest-growing fintech startups, Vella, has launched its money transfer platform which, according to it, will enable it to carry out borderless transfers and remittances anywhere in the world.

The platform which will be powered by cryptocurrency, according to Vella’s co-founder, Tolu Adebayo, will position the platform to “become a facilitator and an enabler for crypto utility and spend-ability in Africa.

Since 2021 when it launched in beta, Vella has successfully onboarded more than 250 users and completed over 230 transactions worth a cumulative $12,000.

“Vella is positioned to become a facilitator and an enabler for crypto utility and spend-ability in Africa, offering both fiat and crypto rails to power remittance and payments for African individuals and businesses,” Adebayo said.

“While fintech is gaining exposure and traction in Africa, a truly borderless payments infrastructure and crypto utility system have not been achieved and Vella is out to make that happen.”

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