Barely a week after issuing the premier license to trade Digital stocks in Nigeria to Chaka, the SEC has now granted Cowrywise, a wealth management startup, license to operate as a Fund/Portfolio Manager.
This also makes Cowrywise the first fintech company to be issued the license and now confirms that Cowrywise’s operations now fall directly under the regulatory scope of the SEC. Before now, the startup used a trustee structure to offer investment opportunities, in partnership with regulated investment management companies like Meristem.
Founded by CTO Edward Popoola and CEO Razaq Ahmed, Cowrywise is a financial technology company digitizing the investment management industry in Africa and democratizing access to savings and investment products for the growing population of underserved African middle class and millennials. With over 300,000 users, we are building digital savings and investing culture for the next generation of wealthy Africans.
With the new license, the startup plans to offer more to its partners (fund managers) and investors on its platform.
On another note, Cowrywise will also be making their APIs public to help fund managers across the world access their services and open up more investment options to serve customers in Nigeria better.
“Digitizing the investment management infrastructure is an important next step in our vision to democratise access to investment products. These APIs do not just apply to fintechs; any company can embed investment features in their products as our investment API simplifies regulatory, compliance and technical hurdles.”, they explained in a statement released earlier today.
Don’t get it twisted
Cowrywise is the first fintech to get a licence in the fund/portfolio management category while Chaka, became the first company to get a Digital Sub-Broker licence.
