Nigeria’s payment app OPay was hailed as Africa’s third largest unicorn on 20 August, after a $400m injection by SoftBank and others, who valued it at $2bn. Now, OPay has been caught up in accusations of money-laundering by the Indian authorities. Chinese billionaire Zhou Yahui, who controls OPay, has been in trouble with foreign regulators before, having been forced to sell dating app Grindr by US fears over data protection, and accused by short seller Hindenberg of predatory short-term lending.
Private loan company PC Financial Services Limited (PCFS) is under fire after police in India seized Rs 107 crore ($14m) last Thursday, in what is suspected to be a case of money laundering.