(Bloomberg) — Flutterwave Inc. is waiting for a response from Kenya’s central bank for a Payment Service Provider license it applied for in 2019, after operating in East Africa’s biggest economy through partnerships with lenders and mobile network firms.
“We have been in constant engagement with the Central Bank of Kenya to ensure that we provide all the requirements, and we look forward to receiving our license,” the company said in an emailed response to questions on Friday.
“We are committed to operating within the stipulated laws, regulations, and industry standards in Kenya.”
Kenya’s central bank Governor Patrick Njoroge said financial technology companies Flutterwave and Chipper Cash are not licensed to operate as remittance or payments service providers in the country.
“They are not licensed to operate and therefore they shouldn’t be operating, and Chipper Cash we could also say the same,” he said at a press briefing on Thursday.
Njoroge’s comments follow a Kenyan court order this month freezing for 90 days multi-currency bank accounts linked to transactions by Flutterwave Payment Technology Ltd.
on suspicion of money laundering.
Olugbenga Agboola and Iyinoluwa Samuel Aboyeji are named as shareholders of the company that was registered in Kenya in February 2017, court documents show.
The central bank didn’t immediately respond to questions about how the companies have been able to facilitate payments since registering as businesses in the country.
Chipper Cash, which has operations in seven African nations including Uganda and Nigeria, has raised a total of $305 million since its launch three years ago and is valued at $2 billion.
The company didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
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