Overview:
Cross-border payment firm NALA secures key Bank of Uganda licences, committing $2 million to boost the country's fintech ecosystem and payment infrastructure.
KAMPALA — Fintech firm NALA has announced a $2 million investment in Uganda’s payment infrastructure after securing two key regulatory licences from the central bank.
The Bank of Uganda granted the company Payment Service Provider and Payment System Operator licences, adding to the money remittance permit it received earlier this year. The new approvals allow the firm to handle core layers of the national payments system, including merchant payments and real-time disbursements.
Benjamin Fernandes, the founder and chief executive of NALA, said the capital will be used to build systems serving both local consumers and the Ugandan diaspora.
“Securing both the PSP and PSO licences marks an important milestone for NALA and represents our third regulatory approval in Uganda,” Fernandes said. “We are investing more than $2 million in local infrastructure and partnerships to build payment systems that serve Ugandans at home and across the diaspora.”
The firm, which launched in 2022, intends to use its expanded regulatory status to lower the cost of cross-border transactions and improve foreign currency inflows. NALA also aims to support the local technology ecosystem by providing APIs that allow other companies to scale their businesses across Africa.
Beyond its consumer platform, the company operates Rafiki, a business-to-business payments engine used by global providers such as MoneyGram.
NALA currently operates in several international markets, including the United Kingdom, United States and Europe, connecting these regions to financial institutions across Africa and Asia.