Nigerian FinTech, Flutterwave Gets CBN’s Approval to Utilize USSD for its Payment Solutions

Mobile payments processing company, Flutterwave, has just stepped up its payments game having gotten approval from the Apex Bank–Central Bank of Nigeria, for the use of the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) technology for its products.

What you need to know about @theflutterwave USSD approval from @cenbank https://t.co/aMR4dUaIP2

— Ventures Africa (@VenturesAfrica) August 7, 2018

The USSD service, which is an addition to its other payments channels, will enable its enterprise and retail customers to layer their products on this infrastructure ensuring faster payment systems.

Dayo Okesola, Head, USSD Product Engineering, said the company is excited to introduce this new payment solution which shows its continued commitment to ‘providing modern payment infrastructure that empowers Africans.’

Related Post: Flutterwave Partners Flywire to Make International Payments Super Easy!

The CBN’s nod affirms the validity of these provisions, especially for this product. The USSD technology has been adopted in recent times to reduce the number of banking hall visits made by the average Nigerian. Funds are transferred between parties instantly via a GSM device with no Internet access or smartphone functionality required. Our new payment channel offers Africans the benefits of security and convenience in their day-to-day transactions. –Dayo Okesola

Why Does this Matter?

One very interesting aspect of this innovation is that it provides an additional channel for banking and is a key catalyst for delivering mobile financial services to low-income customers.

This is very important within emerging economies like Nigeria, where access to the Internet/smartphones is pretty limited. But with USSD, even with no smartphones or Internet access, customers can easily carry out their various transactions.

All that is needed to be done is to dial a particular set number (shortcode) that starts with * and ends with #, and transactions can be carried out. This is already being utilized by most banks in Nigeria and it’s just ideal that Nigeria’s leading payments infrastructure for banks and businesses, Flutterwave, keys into it.