The Bank of Ghana(BoG) has ordered Dash, one of the country’s leading fintech operators to immediately cease offering a number of its highly valued services.
This comes after allegations that the startup that has been in business since 2019 lacked prerequisite approvals from the regulator.
In a letter to the CEO of Spektra Technologies which owns Dash App, the central bank said that the company wasn’t properly licensed to facilitate cross border payment, hold float balance, and allow wallet creation or offer bill and utility payment services, which also happen to be Dash App’s most sought-after services.
The letter said in part, “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.”
The move by the Ghanaian regulator comes just days after Dash announced that it had raised $32.8 million in an oversubscribed seed round that attracted top investors from around the globe. This was among the largest funding rounds in Africa and was intended to help Dash spread its operations to other markets such as Tanzania and South Africa.
The funding round was led by Insight Venture Partners, ASK Capital, Techstars, Guillaume Pousaz’s Zinal Growth Partners among others
Since its inception the company has been hailed for creating a unique alternative payment network that enables interoperability between mobile money and traditional banking. This makes it easy for consumers and businesses to conveniently make payments from their preferred channel.
For now, it remains to be seen how Bank of Ghana and Spektra Technologies resolve the standoff.
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what does this mean to users that have money stuck in that account?