If you get your news on X (formerly known as Twitter), then on the morning of Thursday, Dec 7, you must have seen the circular issued by NIBSS (Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System), requesting banks to remove certain non-deposit financial institutions from their transfer beneficiary list. 

Later in the afternoon, a  screenshot started going around social media that had the supposed list of companies, which included Flutterwave, that will be removed from the transfer beneficiaries. This list is erroneous: Flutterwave is actually not affected and continues to serve its customers as usual.

Indeed, Flutterwave is a licensed Switching & Processing company that has from inception worked with our deposit-taking bank partners to process payments. As a non-deposit taking financial institution, we can process outward payment – which means; send money to other banks on behalf of our customers. But, we do not hold money or directly receive deposits because that process is managed by the deposit-taking banks we work with.

So, when you receive payment from a customer or remittances from a loved one abroad through our numerous payment channels, the money is actually routed in through our bank partners before it gets to you.

Flutterwave has always been non-deposit taking, and we are connected to NIBSS for the purpose of transferring funds to other banks within Nigeria. We have always adhered to regulations that relate to this policy, and with it being enforced, we’re not affected in any way. So if you see someone tweeting fake news, please tell them that it is business as usual at the Wave! 🦋

Published by Sharon Grey

Storytelling and Brand, West Africa