Dash, a Ghanaian fintech startup, has been ordered by the Bank of Ghana to cease operations due to unapproved licences.
The Bank of Ghana has ordered Ghanaian fintech company Dash to cease operations. The fintech startup has been growing since securing a $32.8 million seed round of funding with its main goal being the creation of a unified alternative payment network for individuals in Africa by leveraging on the continent’s Mobile Money network.
With the funding, Africa will be able to interoperate its digital payment networks and build intermediary services for mobile payment wallets along the lines of Mastercard and Visa.
But the Bank of Ghana (BoG), in a letter dated March 9, 2022, ordered Specktra Technologies to stop using its Dash App, the payment platform service, because the central bank had not granted regulatory authority.
Dash Operations
The central bank said in the letter that it had come to its attention that through the Dash App, Spektra Technologies was offering services such as Wallet Creation, Cross Border Payment, Holding of Float Balance, as well as Bill and Utility Payments without the requisite approval.
The Head of Fintech and Innovation at the Bank of Ghana, Kwame Oppong, said in an interview that the move was to protect consumers and to keep the system safe.
Customer Protection
“We have consumers to protect and a sector to keep safer to ensure that consumers are protected”, he said. “Payment Service Providers are required to obtain the appropriate regulatory approval from the Bank of Ghana under Section 7 (1) of the Payment Systems and Services Act, 2019, (Act 987) prior to operating a payment service in Ghana,” he added.
The Bank of Ghana also reminded the company that “offering payment services in the country without a license is an offence under Section 9 (1) of Act 987.
Before founding Dash in 2019, Prince Boakye Boampong and Jesse Ghansah, the current CEO of Float, co-founded OMG Digital, a YC-backed Ghanaian media startup, in 2016.
About Dash App
Operational in Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and expanding to South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and more borders in the future, Dash App’s goal is to usher the continent into a healthy financial lifestyle and one that removes barriers and enables wealth creation. Dash works seamlessly with existing payment systems and fits into different lifestyles.
