Interswitch Group, one of Africa’s leading financial technology and integrated payments solution providers, has secured a Payments Service Holding Company (PSHC) License issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

This follows an earlier announcement by the CBN regarding new licensing categories for participants in the Nigerian Payments System.

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By virtue of this development, which was formally communicated on Friday, January 13, 2023 by the apex bank, Interswitch essentially becomes one of the inaugural licensees by the CBN in this category.

According to the regulator, the PSHC regulation requires companies with existing or prospective operations across multiple license categories to set up a payments service holding company (PSHC).

The activities of each of the PSHC subsidiaries operating within those respective licensing regimes are clearly delineated, for clearer accountability, effective risk management and the enablement of better regulatory oversight by the CBN.

The statement from Interswitch also outlines that Interswitch’s Group Holding Company retains     ownership of the PSHC in Nigeria as well as its other subsidiaries outside of Africa.

This recent development interestingly coincides with Interswitch’s 20th anniversary commemoration, which has seen the company cement its position as a pioneering and integral enabler that has actively supported the growth and development of fintech and payments progressively across Africa over the last 20 years.

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It also serves to reinforce Interswitch’s progressive outlook as a frontier-driving company which keeps pushing boundaries to facilitate the creation of new ecosystems that help businesses and individuals scale and thrive, in line with its purpose of inspiring Africa to greatness through innovation, value-creation and excellence.

Commenting on this development, Mitchell Elegbe, Interswitch’s Founder and Group CEO, remarked that ‘Twenty years ago, we placed a bet on latent potential we saw in the introduction of e-payment channels at the time, particularly ATMs for the delivery of cash just-in-time, and today, we are gratified  to see how far the financial technology and payment systems in Nigeria have grown. On the back of our receipt of this additional license, we remain strongly committed to close partnership with the Central  Bank of Nigeria to facilitate the delivery of the Payments Vision (2025) and of course, the National Financial Inclusion Strategy.

Elegbe further reiterates Interswitch’s resolute focus on its over-arching mission to continue championing technology solutions that connect and empower individuals, businesses, and communities across the continent.

The letter, a copy of which was gleaned by our reporter, talks about the sheer grit and determination of himself and likeminded young Nigerians who defied logic to take on a challenge to change the Nigerian payment landscape some 20 years ago.

“Yes, we were excited about the chance to change our world, but then, our excitement was laced with some apprehension and uncertainty,” Elegbe wrote in the letter he titled “Fellow outliers, turns out we were right!” According to Elegbe, so strange was the idea then and enormous the hurdle that “In the weeks leading up to that day, [4 December 2002] several well-meaning people had attempted to wake me up from my reverie, offering logical postulations and realistic explanations that were all clearly predicting that I was building a bubble in the wrong clime, at the wrong time. Looking at the paltry furnishings, and the huge cloud of doubt hanging over our heads, even I wondered to myself – can we really do this?”

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What makes the idea a harder sell, the letter stated, was that then society was suspicious of and resistant to change. “How we fought to share our solutions with a society that was accustomed to its problems,” wrote Elegbe. The Group CEO said the Interswitch story today has vindicated their resolve. “Looking back now, it looks like we were right. History, after all, favours the brave. But even if history forgets, we must not forget. We must not forget the arduous but rewarding path we have journeyed in the last 20 years.”

Today, from that uncertain beginning, “processing five transactions in an entire week”, Interswitch has “progressed gradually to processing millions of transactions daily.” From a small corner office, Elegbe said, in the letter, that he feels fulfilled “when I walk down the corridors of our nine buildings and I see vibrant men and women putting their minds, hearts, and hands to work, because they believe in our dream of a prosperous Africa.”

He saluted the quality of ideas in young Nigerians then and even now and how that turned Interswitch to an unqualified success story across Africa and the world, helping the business to attain a unicorn status, the first tech business out of Africa to attain such status, and creating “Africa’s premier and most successful card brand” in the process.

The letter, which Elegbe called a “thank you note to you #TheGoodPeopleOfTheSwitch”, also envisioned a strong future prospect for Interswitch and the payment industry on the continent. “The future is incubating in your minds; the possibilities are unfathomable and together we can usher Africa into an all-new era of innovation. We have merely spent the last 20 years preparing for what is to come.”

Interswitch has totally transformed the payment landscape in Nigeria and across Africa over the past two decades, “connecting players across industries, switching on possibilities and harnessing technology to make payments become seamless.” The letter expresses Interswitch’s determination to continue to play a leading role in helping to break new grounds in payment solutions across the continent. “We are inspiring Africa to greatness, and we will never stop, Elegbe assured.