Nigeria’s Central Bank has revoked the operating licences of seven payment service providers and one Switch service provider for failing to comply with their obligations according to Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA).
This was disclosed in an Official Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria published on the CBN’s website on Thursday.
The affected payment service providers include Easifuel Limited, Transaction Processing System (TPS), Grand Towers Limited, Paymaster Limited, E-Revenue Gateway Limited, Eartholeum Network Limited and Globasure Limited.
The payment service provider whose switch licence was revoked as contained in schedule II is 3Line Card Management Limited.
The Official Gazette dated November 30, 2020 stated that the payment service providers listed in schedule 1 have ceased to carry on in Nigeria the type of business for which their licences were issued for a continuous period of six months.
Part of the statement as contained in the Gazette reads: “I, Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, in exercise of the powers conferred on the Central Bank of Nigeria under Sections 60 and 62 of BOFIA, CAP B3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 hereby revoke the licenses of the payment service providers listed in Schedule I and the switch licence of payment services providers listed in Schedule II attached hereto.”
The CBN on December 10, 2020 approved new licence categorisation for the payment system with corresponding minimum capital requirements ranging from N50 million to N2 billion.
This is in line with its commitment to promote a strong and credible payment system. The four new licensed categorisation are switching and processing, Mobile Money Operation (MMO), Payment Solution Services (PSSs), and regulatory sandbox.
