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In a surprising development, the Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), Patrick Njoroge, has warned Kenyan merchants that leading pan-African fintech firms —Chipper Cash and Flutterwave — are not licensed to operate in the East African country.
Business Insider Africa understands that Mr Njoroge made the revelation while fielding questions from journalists at the end of the CBK’s recently held monetary policy committee meeting.
“Flutterwave 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,” the CBK Governor said, as quoted by Business Daily.
On its website, Chipper Cash listed six countries where it currently operates. Kenya is not one of them.
On the other hand, a blog post by Flutterwave with the title How to send money to Africa from abroad informed customers that they can “make and receive payments in any of these countries’ legal currency: Euros; British Pounds; Kenyan, Tanzania, and Ugandan Shillings; Cedis; Naira; Rand; Canadian Dollars; USD; Rwandan Franc; Zambia Kwacha; Cameroon & Ivory Coast CFA.”
Business Insider Africa has not seen any further documents supporting claims (or counterclaims) regarding the fintech firms’ right to operate in the East African country.
Both companies have also not responded to the latest comment by the Central Bank of Kenya.
Recall that earlier this month, the Assets Recovery Agency of Kenya obtained a court order to freeze some bank accounts operated by Flutterwave. The bank accounts reportedly have a collective sum of $52.5 million, funds which the Kenyan agency suspected were proceeds of fraud. But Flutterwave vehemently denied this allegation, describing it as a calculated attempt to smear its reputation.
In the meantime, Flutterwave is still under investigation in Kenya, with the Asset Recovery Agency vowing to file a petition to ultimately have the funds forfeited to the Kenyan Government.
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