Africa’s most valuable fintech company has secured a Switching and Processing Licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), widely regarded as the most valuable payments processing licence. Businesses on the fintech company’s platform will also be able to transact with eNaira.
The licence allows Flutterwave to enable transactions between banks, fintech companies, and other financial institutions. It also has the ability to process card transactions, participate in agency banking and offer various payment services without any intermediary. Prior to now, Flutterwave operated with its Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) and International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) licenses.
Flutterwave also announced today that its merchants in Nigeria can now accept eNaira payments on their platform. This follows the 3.0 product announcement event held in March this year, during which a range of upcoming product features was showcased.
eNaira is a digital currency issued and regulated by the CBN as a medium of exchange and store of value. It was launched on October 25 2021 and is available to users with or without a bank account, as they only need to register and access the wallet via the eNaira mobile app. To complete transaction transactions, users can either scan QR codes or generate one-time tokens using the app. With this integration, Nigerian merchants can now use Flutterwave to collect eNaira payments from customers who have the eNaira app.
“We strive to allow individuals and businesses with various payment needs and requirements to do business easily. The eNaira feature is important for both merchants and customers because it offers an alternative payment method that many users find seamless. It is a key update to Flutterwave’s platform and we continue to look out for opportunities like this to improve our offering to customers,” Azeez Oluwafemi, senior vice president, products and designs, said.
To get started on the wallet, merchants simply have to enable the eNaira payment option on the Flutterwave dashboard.
Olugbenga GB Agboola, CEO of Flutterwave, described the switching and processing licence as big news for customers, partners, investors, and other stakeholders.
“It is an important milestone in our growth story. Our mission remains to simplify payments for endless possibilities and with our new adoption of eNaira as a payment method on Flutterwave, we are helping ensure that everyone has access to payment solutions that work for them,” 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.”
Read also: Flutterwave secures payments processing license from CBN
Flutterwave has processed over 200 million transactions worth over $16 billion to date and serves more than one million businesses including customers like Uber, Flywire, Booking.com, etc. The company says it has a key advantage in international payment processing across 150 currencies and multiple payment modes including local and international cards, mobile wallets, bank transfers, Barter by Flutterwave etc. The Flutterwave infrastructure reaches over 34 African countries including Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, etc.
