Punishment of banks, e-payment firms leaving on infractions begins April—CBN
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has set deadline of April 1, this year for resumption of sanction on banks, mobile money operators, switches and other payment system service providers that violate payment system rules and regulations.
A circular signed by CBN Director, Banking and Payment Systems Department, Dipo Fatokun, said operators in the National Payments System shall be hit with N10,000 fine per day if they fail to apply for the renewal of an operating licence three months before the expiration date of the licence.
The circular further noted that operators would also be sanctioned for failure to regularise and respond to observations/exceptions noted by the bank in the course of processing an application for renewal of an operating licence within three weeks.
CBN also made it clear that licenced operators in the Nigerian Payments System should note that the provisions of the circular would become effective on April 1, 2018.
According to the CBN, “The e-payment revolution in Nigeria became exigent following global trends where countries ontinued to embrace technology and redefine their payment systems. The need to get Nigeria onto the same wavelength as the rest of the world prompted the CBN inauguration of the Financial System Strategy 2020 (FSS 2020) 10 years ago”.
“The vision was to enhance Nigeria’s chances of playing big in the global financial space and sustaining its leadership position in Africa.
“It was also to allow Nigeria achieve Goldman Sach’s prediction of being among the Next 11 countries poised for rapid economic growth by 2020. But, achieving this requires Nigeria to have a robust and vibrant financial system and reformed payment system to power the new economy.
“To make the vision a success, the CBN, in collaboration with key stakeholders in the payments community, developed the National Payments Systems Vision 2020 (NPSV 2020). The NPSV 2020 is a sub-set of the Financial Systems Strategy 2020 (FSS 2020).
The apex disclosed that despite growth in Nigeria’s payment system, there are some challenges militating against the achievements of FSS2020 objectives including but not limited to the funding and logistics, technical challenges and human capital development.
