The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has written to banks and other regulated financial institutions to stop dealing with FlutterWave and ChipperCash – some of the leading fintechs in Africa.
Talking to the press, CBK Governor, Patrick Njoroge said the 2 fintechs are not licensed to operate in Kenya:
“FlutterWave is not licensed to operate as a remittance provider or payments service provider in Kenya. They are not licensed to operate and therefore, they should not be operating and I think ChipperCash, we could also say the same.”
– Governor, Central Bank of Kenya
ChipperCash, which was previously operational in Kenya, has seen its licenses revoked following its involvement in cryptocurrency trading and transactions in Africa.
For FlutterWave, the announcement comes after months of suspicion and bad press both in Nigeria and Kenya.
In June 2022, FlutterWave, a fintech that helps businesses build customizable payments applications through its APIs, was caught up in a scandal in Kenya that exposed it as a key conduit for money laundering.
The High Court of Kenya froze $40 million in its accounts in July 2022. According to reports, Kenya’s Assets Recovery Agency sought and was granted the order to freeze several accounts with three banks belonging to Kenyan-registered Flutterwave Payment Technology Ltd.
The fintech however has denied the fraud and money laundering claims.
In a statement, FlutterWave said:
“Claims of financial improprieties involving the company in Kenya are entirely false, and we have the records to verify this. 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.”
– FlutterWave
Both FlutterWave and ChipperCash have faciliated crypto transactions for individuals and companies in Kenya and other African countries, which may also have contributed to their licenses getting revoked.
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