Flutterwave has responded to claims by 86FB that the payment company has been withholding their funds, thereby making it difficult to pay their users.
Flutterwave told BusinessDay in an email that it could not have withheld the said funds given that it doesn’t carry out banking services.
“We are a payment processor and do not hold customers’ funds including those belonging to customers of 86FB/86Z. All transactions passed through the Flutterwave payment platform are treated and settled in line with regulatory requirements,” the company said.
86FB had on April 29, posted a public letter in which it alleged that its struggles to remit investors’ funds was due to Flutterwave “maliciously” freezing its funds with the intent to keep it for themselves.
Read also: 86FB acusses Flutterwave of ‘freezing’ company’s account
86FB/86Z Communications is an investment platform that claims to focus on football and collaborates with William Hill, a global online gambling company based in London, England, to integrate probability and statistics.
In its letter, 86FB urged its users whose funds are trapped to go after Flutterwave and get the money owed them.
The letter which was posted on social media platform such as Twitter was a trending topic with hundreds of users demanding for their funds from both companies.
In its response, Flutterwave said in the process of conducting routine review of transactions and KYC (Know-Your-Customer) of its registered merchants, it had found that some merchants were passing transactions on behalf of 86FB/86Z which is not registered or approved by Flutterwave.
“Where transactions are done contrary to the registered nature of a business, we are required to take appropriate actions up to and including termination. For example, if a merchant is registered to sell tomatoes and without approvals, starts selling cars, the merchant is in breach of our terms of service and regulatory requirements,” the company said.
In the case of 86FB/86Z, Flutterwave said its investigation revealed that merchants were processing transactions for the investment company without approval.
“As a result, we notified the merchants to cease processing and suspended their use of the Flutterwave platform. We also settled all funds due to these merchants. No funds currently due to the merchants are with Flutterwave,” it said.
Flutterwave noted that customers of 86FB/86Z can direct all payments related issues for resolution.
