Cleva, a Nigerian fintech, has been granted an International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) license from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The IMTO license allows Cleva to carry out cross-border transactions securely, particularly inbound international money transfers directly to recipients in Nigeria.
“Cleva is on a mission to eliminate payment barriers for Nigerians, and this new license reinforces our commitment to making cross-border transactions as effortless as possible,” Cleva wrote in a blog post.
With this license, Cleva aims to offer faster and more secure international transfers, providing a seamless experience for Nigerians receiving payments from abroad.
According to the CBN guidelines, IMTO license holders can provide cross-border money transfer services for individuals and businesses. However, they are prohibited from processing outbound IMTO transactions. The guideline also instructs IMTOs to facilitate transfers to Nigeria in Naira.
A January 2024 guideline released by the CBN prohibited fintechs from offering IMTO services, but with Cleva’s recent IMTO authorisation, questions arise on the apex bank’s position on the approval of IMTO licenses to fintechs.
An industry expert who spoke to Techpoint Africa on the condition of anonymity notes that “There are two grey areas. One, [the] CBN has not come out to define what a fintech is. Secondly, there are fintechs that went ahead to get IMTO licenses before this ban, and we don’t know what is going to happen to them. These two grey areas are not allowing people to come to a decisive conclusion on [the] CBN’s standpoint.”
Cleva was founded in 2023 by Tolu Alabi and Philip Abel to allow Africans to receive USD payments from abroad in US-based accounts. Users can open USD accounts on the platform by providing their Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) and government-issued IDs. They can also convert USD to their local currencies and make transfers to their local bank accounts. Cleva also offers users a virtual USD card for global transactions.
Since 2023, it has become increasingly popular amongst freelancers and remote workers working for companies in the United States and businesses that transact internationally and need to receive dollar payments.
In 2023, the fintech was accepted into Y Combinator, and in January 2024, it raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed round led by 1984 Venture and supported by FirstCheck Africa, Y Combinator, The Raba Partnership, and Byld Ventures.
With Cleva’s IMTO approval, either the CBN’s fintech ban on IMTO services will not be enforced for the foreseeable future, or Cleva has limited its business to only IMTO services, in which case it does not fall within the CBN ban.
