East African payments company, NALA, has been granted approval by the National Bank of Rwanda for a payment service provider (PSP) license.
Last week, we celebrated receiving our Payment Service Provider License from the National Bank of Rwanda 🇷🇼 🥳
This new license unlocks new payment capabilities that bring us closer to achieving our mission to increase economic opportunity for African people across the globe.… pic.twitter.com/Jl1t5uk1eJ
— NALA (@NALAmoney) November 24, 2023
The approval of the license grants NALA access to a range of new payment capabilities which include:
- Direct integration with banks and mobile money operators
- Facilitating disbursements for purposes such as bills or school fees, and
- Streamlining payment collections
The license also enables NALA to enhance the affordability and reliability of international payments to Rwanda.
Since its establishment in Rwanda in 2021, NALA has collaborated with local entities to facilitate remittance payments to both bank accounts and mobile money wallets. In the past two years, the company has processed over 10,000 transactions, assisting numerous Rwandan diaspora members in sending money to their home country.
This has led to the transfer of over one billion Rwandan Francs ($811,729) from overseas to support local families and businesses. With the newly obtained PSP license, NALA will have the capability to manage disbursements and collections internally thereby lowering costs and enhancing reliability for both senders and recipients.
“Enabling direct integration to banks and telcos allows us to address some of the most pressing and sticky challenges that individuals and businesses face when moving money across Rwanda’s borders,” said Nicolai Eddy, group COO at NALA.
“Our new PSP licence enables us to build these capabilities under our own roof, which means we can improve quality of service and reduce cost. We have worked closely with the Bank of Rwanda to complete the appropriate steps to become licensed as a payment service provider. With this new licence, NALA commits to supporting and collaborating with the Rwandan regulator and the relevant government agencies to accomplish our shared ambitions.”
With the PSP license, NALA can now provide an array of enhanced services, including payment gateway solutions that enable merchants to accept payments through local channels like mobile money or cards.
In 2022, NALA raised $10 million to expand to 12 African countries.
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