Bank of Ghana (BoG), Ghana’s apex bank and regulator has instructed Flutterwave, the Nigerian-owned fintech company, to provide details of the services it provides within the country as part of its part of its efforts to review the country’s financial system.
“The Bank of Ghana is conducting a review on Flutterwave Technology Solutions Limited as part of its continuous surveillance of the financial system. To this end, we request you to furnish us with the following information on the above company,” the request, signed by Ismail Adam for the BoG’s head of banking supervision, read in part.
The pieces of information the BoG requested include details of services provided by Flutterwave, “all operational accounts” and details of all financial exposures to the company.
The BoG set a deadline of July 20 for Flutterwave to provide this information.
Earlier, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) said that Flutterwave was not licensed to operate in the country.
Patrick Njoroge, CBK Governor, said this at a media briefing in Nairobi on July 28 following its monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting.
“Flutterwave is not licensed to operate as a remittance provider or, for that matter, as a payments service provider in Kenya,” Njoroge said.
“They are not licensed to operate, and therefore they shouldn’t be operating.”
Flutterwave is a Nigerian fintech company that provides a payment infrastructure for its clients around the world.
A Kenyan High Court had frozen more than Sh6.2 billion spread in 62 bank accounts belonging to the company and four Kenyans in June.
The court issued the freezing order following suspicion that the funds were proceeds of card fraud and money laundering.
Flutterwave has denied the allegations and defended its operations in Kenya.
“Claims of financial improprieties involving the company in Kenya are entirely false, and we have the records to verify this,” Flutterwave said.
“We are a financial technology company that maintains the highest regulatory standards in our operations.
“Our anti-money laundering practices and operations are regularly audited by one of the Big four firms. We remain proactive in our engagements with regulatory bodies to continue to stay compliant.”
First published in Foundation for Investigative Journalism, https://fij.ng/article/bank-of-ghana-to-review-flutterwaves-operations/