Ahead of Money20/20 in Amsterdam, CEO of Flutterwave, Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola has been speaking with Finextra about Europe’s formula for supporting the fintech industry and how to prioritise digital trust amid global unrest and uncertainty.
African payments technology unicorn Flutterwave, which helps merchants accept payments both online and at the point-of-sale through a host of methods, hit a $3 billion valuation on a $250 million raise in February 2022. At the time, the firm said it intended to use some of the cash to spur growth through mergers and acquisitions.
It was announced today at Money20/20 that Flutterwave has also collaborated with Token.io, account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure provider, to power Pay By Bank transfer capabilities for Flutterwave‘s platform.
A2A payments are a fast and secure way to move money between bank accounts. Open banking powered A2A payments do not require registration or data entry, making them a seamless payment method. Users can authenticate A2A payments directly with their bank for a frictionless experience that also delivers higher success rates than market standards.
In conversation with Agboola, he highlighted that it is the EU’s “thriving fintech industry” driven by “an effective combination of essential factors like regulatory support, public and private funding, innovative tech entrepreneurs, and a highly skilled workforce.”
He continued: “These factors ensure consumer rights and data privacy are not neglected at the expense of growing fintech innovation. For example, the region’s GDPR which is a model for several countries worldwide, exemplifies Europe’s commitment to protecting data privacy.”
There is potential for the industry to move from open banking to open finance. In Agboola’s view, PSD2 is a good starting point, but “more initiatives or policies should be explored to provide common data sharing practices in the EU and put the region on track to becoming the go-to region for guides to facilitating open finance.”
However, when mapping and scaling a digital banking strategy, there are many needs to be considered and according to Agboola, customer and regulatory requirements, while not “mutually exclusive”, they “stand out”.
Agboola said: “As a payment technology company, we believe financial service providers (FSPs) are not only in the financial business; we are also in the trust business. To balance that, FSPs gain and maintain consumers’ needs by prioritising their rights, funds’ safety, and data protection. Being regulatory compliant is a fundamental building block for doing that. It shows goodwill that an FSP will consider all necessary regulatory requirements when mapping and scaling a digital banking strategy.”
He added: “Prioritising regulatory compliance and investing in global standard security measures and licenses to protect customers and the ecosystem is a necessary step that must be complemented with third-party reviews and regular training and retraining for employees to stay up-to-date on the latest security measures. Employing transparent and open communication channels to increase public awareness about FSPs’ efforts to protect customers and safeguard the ecosystem is also a way to build trust.”
