The rapid growth of fintech is transforming Africa’s financial landscape and Verto pride themselves on being at the forefront of this much-needed revolution. African fintechs are presented with the challenge of how to scale across the continent and beyond simply finding the right product market fit, a critical component is being able to make cross border payments.
Traditional payment rails present significant obstacles for African fintechs that are looking to expand and take advantage of the emerging opportunities for cross border trade. The African economic narrative over the past decade has been that of a continent rising, and it is easy to understand why it’s demographics are quite compelling; Africa boasts a rapidly growing and youthful population that is increasingly urbanised. However, underneath the veneer of this narrative are the obstacles facing businesses that are trying to capitalise on these opportunities, they struggle to access foreign currencies to make payments to trade with counterparties and suppliers abroad and when they do it’s typically expensive and time-consuming.
To compound this, growing risk aversion from global banks with regards to working with African banks that have been unable to demonstrate robust Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorist financing controls (CTFC) has increased the ineffieciencies around payments in Africa.
How can African fintechs scale with such friction?
Enter Verto. Verto solves these challenges through its technology stack of infrastructure and APIs with the initial focus on SMEs’ pain-points around lack of liquidity, long settlement period, and expensive exchange rates.
Verto is bridging the international business-payment corridors by using a B2B payments platform. This includes global payments specialising in cross-border payments and settlement in illiquid currencies. This solution facilitates international payments for multinational corporations, financial institutions, marketplaces and e-commerce businesses, as well as import and export traders. Verto offers businesses unprecedented access to African currencies including (but not limited to) KES, NGN, GHS, ZAR, MAD and EGP in a move that offers companies a way of overcoming challenges previously experienced when making cross-border payments and scaling effectively.
Are you a business trading in African currencies? Catch Verto at Africa Tech Summit in Nairobi on Wednesday 24th when their Country Lead for Kenya Kevin Ng’ang’a will be speaking on “The Evolution Of International Payments & Remittances”
Can’t wait? Sign up to use Verto here. All ATS attendees will receive $100 free following their first trade using the code ATS2022.
