CBN Announces OPay, Moniepoint, and More to Restart Customer Onboarding Within Months

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), new user enrollment for mobile money providers, which includes fintech companies like OPay, Palmpay, Kuda Bank, and Moniepoint, will resume "in another couple of months."

This was said by CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso on Tuesday during the 295th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting at the central bank in Abuja. At the meeting, the MPC increased the interest rate from 24.75% to 26.25%.

The head of the CBN stated that various stakeholders have been consulted about the need to fortify their operations by the central bank.

Cardoso stated that the top bank has proposed "remedial measures that will help that sector to tighten up on onboarding and even existing clientele base" to stop money laundering and illicit flows.

"I have no doubt that in due course, and hopefully within the next few months, all of these issues will be resolved, and that industry will resume its historical practices—albeit with a considerably more robust regulatory structure,” the speaker stated.

The top bank barred fintech firms from accepting new clients in April; this action was interpreted as a crackdown on the financial industry by the Cardoso-led CBN.

Reports that the CBN has chosen to crack down on fintech firms are "farthest from the truth," the CBN chairman stated in response to a question on why the top bank made the decision.

"Fintechs have not been singled out for any exceptional kind of treatment," he stated, going on to say that the CBN was still happy with the accomplishments made by fintech companies over the past few years and that the central bank will keep bolstering and supporting them.

Citing illicit transfers inside the sub-sector, Cardoso stated, "Yet regulation is very critical in a sector that seems to have grown so incredibly rapidly."

We recently had a course to examine the whole problem of money laundering and illicit flows, especially in the context of lightly regulated banking systems. As you are all aware, there have been some issues with cryptocurrency and the messages that followed, which has led us to believe that increased surveillance is necessary.

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According to him, the top bank has shaken hands extensively with security organizations to pinpoint areas where the subsector needs stricter rules and monitoring.

Cardoso stated, "Therefore, we felt there was a need for us to take a breather and work with different players to strengthen regulations, not by any means to put them out of business. We were concerned about how we saw the issue of anti-money laundering and illicit flows as they made their way within the various sub-sectors of the financial industry.

"Let me reiterate that as of right now, none of the fintech companies' licenses have been revoked."

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