Flutterwave Acquires Mono to Expand Open Banking in Africa
Flutterwave, a leading payments technology firm in Africa, announced its acquisition of Mono, a pioneer in open banking infrastructure, on January 5. The transaction aims to deepen Flutterwave’s commitment to building a connected, interoperable financial system for Africa.
According to the announcement, Mono will continue to operate independently, with no changes to its team, leadership structure, or everyday operations. This strategic alignment allows Mono to maintain its pace of innovation and contribute its open banking infrastructure to Flutterwave’s payments ecosystem.
Mono’s API-driven platform provides secure access to identity verification, financial data, and account-to-account payments. These capabilities are critical in African markets as they move toward more trusted, data-led financial services. By integrating Mono’s open banking APIs, Flutterwave strengthens its ability to support faster onboarding, improved verification, reduced fraud, and seamless account-to-account payments.
The acquisition reflects a growing recognition that the next phase of Africa’s payments growth will be driven less by card rails and more by bank-based, authenticated, and locally relevant payment methods. This collaboration will create a path for expanding into richer alternative payment methods, authenticated payment flows, and, in time, open banking-enabled stablecoin use cases.
Commenting on the acquisition, Flutterwave’s founder and CEO, Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola, said that the acquisition reflects how the company thinks about the future of financial infrastructure in Africa. “Payments, data, and trust cannot exist in silos. Open banking provides the connective tissue, and Mono has built critical infrastructure in this space.”
Abdulhamid Hassan, Mono’s CEO and founder, noted that he and his team built Mono to unlock Africa’s Open Banking potential. Since their first partnership with Flutterwave in 2021, they have seen the power of a coordinated effort in their mission to achieve this goal. “Mono’s capabilities across financial data access, direct bank payments, and identity verification, combined with Flutterwave’s unmatched scale and global reach, create something more secure and reliable.”
As the acquisition allows Flutterwave to expand what’s possible for businesses operating across African markets, it’s likely that the company will focus on staying grounded in security, compliance, and local relevance. With Mono’s open banking infrastructure, Flutterwave can support the next generation of African fintech at the speed and scale the continent deserves, including exploring market entry options for businesses.
The acquisition of Mono by Flutterwave may lead to increased adoption of open banking in Africa, as it provides a secure and reliable infrastructure for financial data access and account-to-account payments. As the continent continues to move toward more trusted, data-led financial services, the collaboration between Flutterwave and Mono could play a significant role in shaping the future of payments in Africa, potentially impacting the tariff change setting.
One potential outcome of this acquisition is the creation of new payment methods that are more locally relevant and authenticated. With Mono’s open banking APIs, Flutterwave can support faster onboarding, improved verification, and reduced fraud, making it easier for businesses to operate across African markets.
For now, the focus is on integrating Mono’s open banking infrastructure into Flutterwave’s payments ecosystem.
It will be interesting to see how this acquisition impacts the future of financial infrastructure in Africa.
The acquisition is a significant step forward for Flutterwave, and it will likely have a lasting impact on the payments sector.
