Sunfintech Partners with Flutterwave to Expand Cross-Border Payments Across Africa

Olugbenga Agboola, co-founder & CEO of Flutterwave; and Hitesh Makhija, co-founder & group CEO of SunFintech

As digital commerce expands across Africa, cross-border payments and foreign exchange (FX) liquidity have become strategic infrastructure rather than back-office functions. They influence how quickly businesses expand, how efficiently regional trade operates, and how reliably remittances reach millions of households.

According to the World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa received approximately US$56 billion in remittances in 2024, while the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is projected to boost intra-African trade by more than 50% by 2035. As trade volumes increase, payment infrastructure capable of supporting real-time, multi-currency transactions becomes increasingly critical.

To support this shift, Sunfintech partnered with Flutterwave to simplify cross-border payments, improve treasury operations, and strengthen foreign exchange liquidity across Africa.

What Is Sunfintech?

Sunfintech is a pan-African payments and treasury company, the fintech arm of the emerging markets financial firm Regulus Group. Sunfintech serves individuals, diaspora communities, and businesses across Africa. Its platform enables secure, compliant, and cost-efficient movement of money while helping organizations manage foreign exchange exposure.

Its core services include:

• Retail remittances
• Cross-border foreign exchange (FX) brokerage
• Treasury and liquidity management
• Compliance and risk advisory
• Multi-currency payment solutions

Serving 11 African markets, Sunfintech focuses on reducing payment friction while supporting regional financial inclusion and cross-border commerce.

Why Do Cross-Border Payments Remain Challenging in Africa?

Although Africa's fintech ecosystem has grown significantly—with companies such as Flutterwave, Chipper Cash, MFS Africa, and Onafriq expanding regional payment connectivity—the continent's financial infrastructure remains fragmented.

Businesses operating across multiple countries continue to face inconsistent banking systems, varying regulatory environments, multiple currencies, and settlement delays.

Sunfintech identified four operational bottlenecks limiting its expansion.

Challenge	Business Impact
Limited regional reach	Operations were largely concentrated in Nigeria, restricting expansion into additional African markets.
Slow settlement cycles	Delayed settlements and FX conversions reduced working capital availability and liquidity.
Technical integration delays	Engineering bottlenecks slowed deployment of bank and mobile wallet payout capabilities.
Limited financial visibility	Insufficient reporting across sub-accounts complicated reconciliation, treasury management, and transaction monitoring.

How Did Flutterwave Solve These Challenges?

Sunfintech integrated Flutterwave's pan-African payment infrastructure to create a unified multi-currency ecosystem capable of supporting collections, payouts, treasury, and settlement.

The partnership introduced several operational improvements:

• Multi-currency accounts enabling customers to send, receive, and hold funds across multiple African currencies.
• Real-time FX pricing supporting more competitive foreign exchange conversion and treasury optimization.
• Local payout rails delivering payments directly into domestic bank accounts and leading mobile money wallets.
• Dedicated technical support reducing implementation timelines while maintaining high platform uptime.
• Integrated treasury services improving liquidity management across multiple operating markets.

Together, these capabilities reduced payment friction while creating a scalable treasury infrastructure for regional expansion.

How Does This Partnership Improve Treasury and FX Management?

Treasury management is increasingly becoming a competitive advantage for African businesses operating across borders.

By combining Flutterwave's payment infrastructure with Sunfintech's treasury capabilities, businesses benefit from:

• Faster settlement cycles
• Improved FX liquidity
• Reduced currency conversion costs
• Greater visibility into cash positions
• Simplified cross-border reconciliation
• Enhanced operational resilience

Rather than managing multiple fragmented payment providers, organizations can centralize treasury operations through a single payment ecosystem.

Why Does This Matter for Africa's Digital Economy?

Africa's digital economy is expected to reach approximately US$180 billion by 2025, according to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), while fintech continues to attract one of the continent's largest shares of venture capital investment.

Cross-border payment infrastructure is becoming foundational for:

• Digital commerce
• Regional supply chains
• SME expansion
• Diaspora remittances
• Intra-African trade under AfCFTA

As businesses expand beyond domestic markets, scalable payment infrastructure becomes a strategic growth enabler rather than simply a financial service.

Major African fintech ecosystems—including those supported by Flutterwave, MFS Africa, Onafriq, and innovation hubs backed by investors such as Partech Africa, TLcom Capital, and Norrsken22—continue to accelerate regional payment interoperability and financial inclusion.

How Can Businesses Scale Payments Across Africa?

Businesses expanding across Africa require payment infrastructure capable of supporting collections, payouts, treasury management, stablecoin settlement, and business banking through a unified platform.

Flutterwave provides pan-African payment infrastructure that enables organizations to simplify cross-border operations while improving settlement speed, liquidity management, and customer payment experiences.

For companies preparing to expand across Africa, building payments and treasury on scalable regional infrastructure can significantly reduce operational complexity while supporting long-term growth.

 

 

FAQs

1. What does Sunfintech do?
Sunfintech is a pan-African payments and treasury company offering cross-border remittances, FX brokerage, liquidity management, compliance advisory, and multi-currency payment solutions for businesses and individuals.

2. Why are cross-border payments difficult in Africa?
Many African markets operate with different banking systems, currencies, regulations, and settlement processes, creating payment delays, higher FX costs, and operational complexity.

3. How does Flutterwave support Sunfintech?
Flutterwave provides pan-African payment infrastructure, including multi-currency accounts, local payout rails, treasury services, real-time FX capabilities, and technical support to help Sunfintech scale across multiple African markets.

4. What are the benefits of multi-currency payment infrastructure?
Multi-currency infrastructure enables businesses to receive, hold, convert, and send funds across different currencies, improving settlement speed, liquidity management, and operational efficiency.

5. Why is treasury management important for African businesses?
Effective treasury management helps businesses optimize liquidity, reduce foreign exchange risk, improve cash flow visibility, and support sustainable cross-border expansion across Africa.