Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has said that African Fintech firms, Flutterwave Payment Technology Limited and Chipper Cash, are not licensed to operate remittances or payment services in Kenya.
While responding to questions during Wednesday’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, CBK governor Patrick Njoroge said the two firms are not allowed to operate remittance businesses or offer payment services to merchants in the country.
“Flutter wave is not licensed to operate remittance provider or for that matter as a Payment Service Provider in Kenya. They are not licenced to operate and therefore they shouldn’t be operating. And Chipper we could also say the same,” said Dr Njoroge.
Flutterwave , a Nigerian fintech company that provides a payment infrastructure for global merchants and payment service providers across the continent was founded in 2018 by Olugbenga Agboola and Iyinoluwa Aboyeji has been undergoing money-laundering probe by the Assets Recovery Authority of Kenya.
The Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) had informed the court that the company’s account received billions of shillings which was deposited in different bank accounts in an attempt to disguise the source or movement of the funds.
Following that Kenyas High Court freezed Sh7 Billion ($59 million), from 56 accounts belonging to Flutterwave and some other Fintech companies following allegations of money laundering and fraud.
Although Flutterwave Kenya, dismissed the allegations, denying involvement in any financial improprieties and saying that it earns its fees through a transaction charge and that records of the said transactions are available and can be verified.The Kenyan court went ahead to freeze three Flutterwave accounts with funds amounting to about $43 million in various currencies.
