A company in Africa that facilitates digital payments has been granted a license to operate as a Payment Service Provider (PSP) in Kenya by the Central Bank of Kenya.
To offer payment services in Kenya, all PSPs are required under the National Payment System Act to go through a stringent licensing application process.
DPO Group was established in Kenya in 2006 and has been running successfully across Africa.
“We exist to help businesses of all sizes thrive by linking them with local, regional and global business opportunities.”To do this, we must stay on top of evolving regulatory demands and ensure we comply with them. Our merchants expect quick and easy payments. Thanks to the support and help of regulators like the Central Bank of Kenya, we can comply with the local regulatory requirements, which further validate the quality, reliability and security of our payments service. “Offer Gat, DPO Ground Chairman, der Offer Gat says.
DPO Group has developed integrated payments technology to support businesses of all sizes in more than 20 countries. This technology enables businesses to securely and quickly accept payments in all currencies using various payment methods, including cards, mobile money, bank transfers, USSD, and EFT.
This is the country’s second license that CBK has granted to a payment service this year. Cellulant got the green light in February of this year, but Virtual Pay International Limited didn’t get one until just recently. The news comes not long after CBK said that African fintech company Flutterwave did not have the licenses they needed to do business in Kenya as Payment Service Providers (PSP).
In response to these claims, Flutterwave had asked the Central Bank of Kenya for a license to do business as a payment service provider in 2019 but had not yet been given one. (CBK). The fintech also clarified that it works in the Kenyan market “through partnerships with banks and mobile network operators licensed by the CBK.”
How Network International Influenced The Growth Of The DPO Group Network International (or “Network”) announced its new strategic direction and said it wants to become the most innovative and quickly growing payments provider in the Middle East and Africa.
For the network’s new strategic vision to come true, its business model had to be completely rethought regarding operations and culture. The Network has a long history of being the preferred partner for direct-to-merchant payments in the UAE and Jordan. Transaction processing is at the heart of what they offer their clients. With a focus on more direct-to-merchant payment services, the company created a way for value-added services, faster execution, and new ideas to drive growth.
The new strategy ensured that the network could help businesses and economies grow by making payments and commerce easier. This was done by making digital onboarding faster, making technological advances to lower the cost of acceptance, offering a wider range of value-added services, and making the region the leader in e-commerce.
Now that Network’s medium-term revenue growth is expected to be 20% or more per year, the company is expected to grow quickly instead of the low-to-mid teens that were predicted before.
The network thinks the group’s underlying EBITDA margin will rise in the medium to long term. 45-50% (H1 2021: 35%), and it will consider selective M&A to accelerate expansion, including in-market consolidation and acquisitions, to scale more quickly in new markets and reduce the time to market for new capabilities.
The successful completion of Network’s purchase of DPO for USD 291.3 million was a major turning point in the company’s growth strategy. It also gave the online payments sector a lot more scale. With access to DPO’s well-established merchant network of more than 60,000 SME and international firms in 21 countries around Africa, the network will benefit from a greater coverage of payment services.
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Significant synergies between the two businesses were also made possible by the deal. The network got access to DPO’s unique and cutting-edge online payment solutions, while DPO benefited from Network’s strengths in in-person payments and its higher transaction approval rates.
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In 2020, the market for online payments in Africa was worth more than USD 30 billion, and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 30% until 2021. The ability of DPO to provide cutting-edge online payment capabilities, which are specialised to meet the specific demands of merchants on the continent, is the foundation of the company’s economic success in Africa.
Online merchants can accept payments in over 20 different currencies, including bank transfers, credit and debit cards, mobile money wallets, and more. DPO has also made a set of value-added services, such as fraud detection, customer loyalty marketing, and analytics, which allow retailers to open an online store that is ready for business in as little as 72 hours.
Network customers all over the UAE will also benefit from the deal because they can use DPO’s full range of payment acceptance options and its suite of value-added services.
There will be many ways for merchants to grow their businesses. The network will introduce “DPO Pay” in the UAE. This end-to-end payment solution will be affordable and useful for SMEs. It will offer a full range of value-added services, such as hosting a mobile-friendly secure payment page.