African fintech startup Flutterwave secures switching and processing license from Central Bank of Nigeria

Flutterwave, Africa's payments technology company has been granted a Switching and Processing License by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), widely regarded as CBN's most valuable payments processing license.

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. 

Olugbenga GB Agboola, CEO and Founder, Flutterwave: "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 Switching and Processing license allows Flutterwave to enable transactions between banks, fintechs and other financial institutions. The Company is also able to process card transactions, participate in agency banking and offer various payment services without any intermediary. Prior to this license, Flutterwave operated with its Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) and International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) licenses.

Oluwabankole Falade, Chief Regulatory and Government Affairs Officer, Flutterwave: "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."

Onyedikachim Nwankwo, Head of Product Marketing,  Flutterwave: "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 tough and rigorous process that examined every aspect of Flutterwave's business, including the company's financial position.

www.flutterwave.com