A Reckoning Over ‘Dirty Money’ Grips Africa’s Bubbly Fintech Scene

On a hot afternoon in the middle of December 2019, Opeyemi Odewale, a Nigerian finance professional and fintech founder who had begun to dabble in the world of angel investing, connected with WeeTracker from the U.S. over Skype.

The conversation was mostly about his investment in a then-6-month-old Nigerian fintech startup known as Bankly, but there was the occasional unavoidable digression - mainly about his work and career.

Apart from claiming a trajectory that has seen him hold positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Barclays, and JP Morgan, among others, and completed more than USD 2 B in acquisitions, divestitures, and joint ventures for private equity companies in a career in finance spanning nearly two decades, Odeyale particularly took pride in his work as the founder of Ping Express; a U.S.-based remittance fintech that launched in 2015.

“Ping Express grew to a multi-million-dollar profile in less than three years and now operates in 31 countries,” Odeyale had told WeeT...