Steady stepping across borders. Fincra, we see you.
Lagos-based fintech, Fincra, has secured a licence from the Bank of Tanzania to operate as a patent service provider in the country.
“What’s the big deal?” Think of it like getting a driver’s licence before hitting the road. You can’t operate without it. With the issuance of this licence, Fincra is legally allowed to offer its financial services in Tanzania. This means that businesses and developers in the country can now plug into Fincra’s suite: payment APIs, payment links, virtual accounts, and checkout services.
ICYMI: Fincra recently got a Third Party Payments Provider (TPPP) licence in South Africa. This licence allows the startup to process debit and credit card transactions, electronic fund transfers (EFTs), real-time clearing (RTC), and rapid payments.
Why Tanzania? The Tanzanian market is evolving digitally with a surge in mobile and digital payments. Mobile payment transactions increased by 26.73% in 2024, with transaction values rising from TZS 154,707.77 billion in 2023 to TZS 198,859.29 billion in 2024. The number of active mobile money subscriptions also increased by 17.46%, growing to 63.21 million subscribers in 2024 from 51.72 million in 2023.
What’s Fincra trying to do? Fincra wants to build Africa’s payment infrastructure— it wants to be the ‘tech behind the scenes’ that helps businesses send and receive money locally and across borders. This Tanzanian license is a step towards expanding across East Africa, as it already operates in Kenya and Uganda. Fincra is also active in Ghana, South Africa, Europe, and North America.
