Mastercard and Payment24 are extending their engagement across Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA) to help bolster security and drive innovation within the fleet and fuel payment industry across the region.

The EMV standard, now being implemented in over 80 markets, has dramatically reduced the incidence of counterfeit card fraud associated with magnetic strip cards, saving hundreds of millions in potential losses.

This partnership not only drives innovation in the fleet and fuel payments sector, but also aims to speed up the transition to the secure EMV standard and help fleet operators reduce the risk of fraud associated with magnetic strip fleet cards.

This expanded collaboration extends the geographical reach of a proven solution and delivers modern fleet and fuel payment solutions to banks and fleet card issuers throughout the region. While drivers benefit from a quick, secure, and seamless way to make payments, fleet operators can now monitor driver spending in real-time, set expense limits, and minimize the need for cash.

“By combining Mastercard’s leading payment technology with Payment24’s innovative and proven fuel payments platform, we deliver a solution for the region that enhances security and adds significant value and convenience for customers,” said Clyde Rosanowski, Senior Vice President of Commercial Solutions, EEMEA at Mastercard.

Through the partnership, customers will be able to take advantage of an end-to-end Fleet Management solution to help them rapidly deploy and scale their own secure fleet and fuel payment offerings. The offering is designed to deliver a suite of EMV-based payment products and extends to a host of modern payment mechanisms, including tokenized tags, e-wallets and vouchers that are all native to the Payment24 platform.

“We are exceptionally proud of how our partnership with Mastercard has developed. The expansion of this alliance to EEMEA highlights the urgent need to get ahead of fraud in the fleet and fuel payments industry. We believe that our combined offering will help customers in the banking industry to better mitigate risks associated with legacy technologies while enhancing transparency and flexibility,” says Shadab Rahil, Joint CEO of Payment24.

“Our deep understanding and tailor-made fuel and fleet technologies go beyond providing secure EMV cards. We deliver mobile payments, windshield tags for identification, and real-time tracking of vehicles and fuel via telematics, all integrated within a dedicated vehicle and fleet management platform. This allows customers to monitor fuel expenses and consumption and actively detect and prevent potential fraud,” adds Nolan Daniel, Joint CEO at Payment24.

Customers across the region can now be rest assured that each transaction is protected by Mastercard’s multiple security layers, fraud prevention technologies, dispute processes and underpinned by Payment24’s technical knowledge and in-depth understanding of fuel payment technologies.

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that mobile money operators including fintech firms like OPay, Palmpay, Kuda Bank, and Moniepoint will resume the enrolment of new customers “in another couple of months”.

Olayemi Cardoso, governor, stated this on Tuesday at the 295th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the apex bank in Abuja when the MPC jacked up interest rate from 24.75 per cent to 26. 25 per cent.

Cardoso, said the apex bank has engaged many of the players on the need to strengthen their operations.

He said to block money laundering and illicit flows, the apex bank brought up “remedial measures that will help that sector to tighten up on onboarding and even existing clientele base”.

“I am confident that as time goes on, and hopefully in another couple of months, all these will be something of the past and then you will see that sector going back into what they’ve been known to do before, but certainly with a very stronger regulatory framework,” he said.

In April, the apex bank stopped fintech companies from onboarding new customers, a move that has been seen as a clampdown on the financial sub-sector by the Cardoso-led CBN.

When asked why the apex bank took the decision, the CBN chief said reports that the CBN has decided to clamp down on fintech firms are “furthest from the truth”.

He said “the fintechs have not been singled out for any exceptional kind of treatment”, adding that the CBN remained proud of the exploits of fintech firms in the last number of year and the apex bank would continue to support and strengthen them.

“However, regulation is very critical in a sector that seems to have grown so incredibly rapidly,” Cardoso said, citing illicit flows within the sub-sector.

“More recently, we had course to take a deep dive look at the whole issue of illicit flows and money laundering particularly within the non-heavy regulated banking system and we all know some of the issues that came out with cryptos and some of the messages we put out after that, which of course, gave us some course to know that there is the need for heightened surveillance.”

He said the apex bank has had major handshake with security agencies to identify the places to tighten regulations and surveillance in the sub-sector.

Cardoso said, “For that reason, we were concerned with respect to how we saw the issue of anti-money laundering and illicit flows as they made their way within the various sub-sectors of the financial industry and we felt there was a need for us to take a breather and work with different players to strengthen regulations, not by any means to throw them out of business.

“Let me re-emphasise that as at this point in time, we have not revoked the licenses of any of the fintech organisations.”

Flutterwave, African fintech company, has debunked allegations in the media that it lost N11 billion ($7.25 million) due to a security compromise.

Flutterwave, led by Olugbenga Agboola, Nigerian tech millionaire has rejected accusations is the only Africa-focused Company to make CNBC’s 2024 Disruptor 50 List

In response to the avalanche of claims, Flutterwave said that it discovered suspicious activity on one of its customer platforms in April 2024. The corporation maintains that it aggressively prevented any loss of customer monies.

As a security precaution, Flutterwave will contact select customers to move their accounts and recommends that all customers implement multifactor authentication, 3D security, and IP whitelisting.

This recent incident raises security worries for the corporation, which accepts payments in over 30 currencies from 40 countries.

In March 2023, reports arose saying hackers stole N2.9 billion ($6.3 million) from Flutterwave. The corporation quickly rejected the charges, reaffirming its commitment to client fund protection.

Flutterwave was ordered by a Nigerian court to recover N19 billion ($12.5 million) for unlawful POS transactions that affected 6,000 accounts across 35 banks and financial institutions.

This came after a months-long inquiry into a technical malfunction that enabled the fraudulent transfers.

Agboola founded Flutterwave in 2016, and it has since been a forerunner in Africa’s ongoing payments revolution. The company, with headquarters in San Francisco and

Lagos, is a notable success story in the continent’s developing fintech sector.

Flutterwave entered the Rwandan and Egyptian markets in 2023, which was a golden year for expansion. It formed a strategic relationship with IndusInd Bank Ltd., a top Indian financial services provider.

The corporation announced a $50 million investment in the Kenyan market to secure an operating license.

These results highlight Flutterwave’s twin goals of transforming Africa’s payments ecosystem and developing a foothold in international markets.

In 2023, Flutterwave formed a strategic relationship with Microsoft, founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, American billionaires.

This effort intends to empower at least 10 million small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) across Africa, with a concentration on Nigeria.

The partnership harnesses the power of the fintech sector to boost economic growth and improve people’s lives by promoting financial inclusion.

This collaboration expands on the two companies’ current technological arrangement, which was signed earlier in 2023.