Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company, has secured a Nigerian banking license, enabling it to hold funds and deposits directly and strengthening its financial infrastructure in its largest market.
The landmark announcement comes after the company processed over $40 billion in payments and enabled more than one billion unique transactions, making financial services and settlement flows more efficient for consumers, businesses, and enterprises.
“This milestone allows us to make our infrastructure more efficient and deliver faster, more reliable financial services,” said Olugbenga Agboola, founder and CEO of Flutterwave. “By operating directly within the financial system, we can streamline money movement, accelerate settlement for merchants, and build products that support sustainable long-term growth.”
2026 seems to be the turnaround year for Flutterwave. In January, the unicorn valued at $3 billion acquired Mono, a pioneer in open banking, in an all-stock deal priced at $30 million. The move exactly four months ago was designed to make Flutterwave the payment rail where it doesn’t just get a chunk of transaction fees but all of the perks of owning the entire payment infrastructure.
It elevates Flutterwave’s pedigree as a landlord rather than a tenant, giving it an extra layer- lending. With Mono’s strengths, which support open banking, lending becomes easier with the Central Bank’s blessings to continue open banking operations in August last year.
Flutterwave’s latest license enables the company to internalise key elements of its financial value chain, improving operational efficiency and supporting faster product development. Equally, the fintech gets autonomy to capture more value from the transactions processed within its ecosystem. The new license grants the payments company abilities to delve into consumer finance, business finance tools like accounts, payroll and multi-currency capabilities; enterprise treasury infrastructure; embedded finance and the creation of financial products through APIs.
Moving from the low-margin business of helping businesses move money will unlock new opportunities for the fintech, which has eyed listing on the Nasdaq exchange for so long. First, Flutterwave will own a bank that will operate as a subsidiary of its Nigerian entity, with its own board and leadership team currently being constituted. Second, account numbers generated through Flutterwave’s checkout system will no longer come from partner banks. Payouts to merchants will run on Flutterwave’s infrastructure, no longer through third parties.
Additionally, the company plans to issue payment cards to its two million Send App consumer users and four million business customers, though it is still selecting a card network partner. Send App, its thriving remittance product, will evolve into a consumer banking service. Flutterwave for Business, its merchant platform, will become the backbone of a business banking offering.
In a strategic move, Flutterwave is bringing back Flutterwave Capital. Abdulhamid Hassan, Mono CEO, noted that the relaunch hinges on a powerful data synergy: combining Flutterwave’s transaction history with Mono’s open banking reach. This setup not only streamlines credit scoring but also strengthens debt recovery by linking the platform to a borrower’s entire BVN-connected banking profile.
The company, which turns 10 this year, having been established in 2016, still has sights on profitability, and its new banking license will take its ambitions there. The fintech believes its identity is a marriage of assets like a switching and processing license, an international money transfer operator license, Mono’s open banking infrastructure, and now a banking license. All of these are layered on top of a payments network spanning more than 35 countries with over 50 global licenses.
