REGULATION | AZA Finance (Formerly BitPesa) Granted Payment Services Provider (PSSP) License By Central Bank of Nigeria

Aza Finance has received a payment services provider (PSSP) license from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and is now offering payments and collections to customers in the country, the firm said in a press release.

Previously providing its fintech services through licensed Nigerian partners, AZA Finance said it can now deliver these services directly, enabling faster and more cost-effective transactions for its customers in Nigeria.

“We’ve had the privilege of collaborating with many exceptional fintechs in Nigeria over the years, and are excited to join their ranks as a licenced payments service provider,” said Elizabeth Rossiello, CEO and founder of AZA Finance.

“We are certain that this country and its currency will continue to be in-demand worldwide as more organisations and enterprises expand to the continent. We look forward to being a part of that growth and deepening our presence and commitment to Nigeria.”

Founded in 2013 as crypto startup, BitPesa, AZA Finance has since expanded to offer a full suite of FX and payments services across all major African and G20 currencies, powered by its proprietary fintech platforms.

As reported by BitKE in late 2019, BT Payments Uganda Services Limited, the Ugandan subsidiary of AZA Finance, secured the first ever money remittance license in Uganda for a non-cash online money transfer platform by the Central Bank of Uganda (BoU), making AZA Finance Africa’s biggest non-bank currency broker at the time.

When the company started, many financial institutions didn’t offer African currency pairs. The only currency pair was with a G20 currency, like the U.S dollar, meaning that every African-to-African currency transaction was slower and more expensive.

Today AZA Finance has:

• Kenya
• South Africa
• Ghana
• Senegal
• Uganda
• Botswana
• Tanzania
• Guinea
• Morocco
• New Zealand
• China
• Japan
• Korea
• The United States
• Canada
• The European Union, and
• The United Kingdom

as available currencies and markets for the fintech’s suite of services.

Started during the early years of the Bitcoin era by creating Kenya shilling (KES) and Bitcoin pairs [BTC / KES], AZA Finance is on record as saying it uses digital currencies to settle 7% of its transactions.

The company has also been in an expansion drive in 2024 to strengthen its pan-African and global footprint by adding:

• Egypt
• Cameroon
• Zambia
• Brazil, and
• India

to its supported markets.

AZA Finance was in November 2024 announced as a semi-finalist in the 2024 Milken-Motsepe Prize in Fintech recognizing the talent and ambition fuelling the company’s work.