The prohibition on OPay, Moniepoint, Kuda, Palmpay, and Paga has been lifted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), allowing the fintech companies to start accepting new clients again.
This occurs roughly five weeks after the fintechs were barred by the apex bank from accepting new clients due to suspicions that their accounts were being used for illegitimate foreign currency operations.
Two of the impacted fintechs, OPay and Kuda, confirmed the development in separate communications to their customers on Monday, despite the CBN having not yet released a formal statement on the matter.
Announcing the development via a post on its X handle, OPay said: “We are thrilled to announce that the Central Bank of Nigeria has given OPay the thumbs up to resume onboarding new users. This milestone highlights our dedication to following the rules, keeping your information safe and secure, and preventing any shady activities.”
Against the backdrop of the concerns expressed by the apex bank leading to the ban, OPay reiterated that it strictly adheres to the approved KYC verification processes and urged its customers to ensure that the due verification process is followed for all accounts and all requirements are completely fulfilled.
Kuda also took to the social media platform to share the news with its customers and followers. The fintech wrote,
“As you probably already know, we’ve been working with the CBN to meet recent regulatory requirements by putting more account controls in place.
“Based on the work we’ve done, we’ll resume signing up new customers this week. Please, note that you’ll need your BVN, NIN, and your proof of address (followed by address verification) to open a Tier 3 account.”
Backstory
On April 29, the CBN gave the five fintech companies instructions to cease accepting new clients. Days had passed since 1,146 accounts were barred for engaging in peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading.
The bulk of the affected accounts are not associated with fintech platforms; rather, they are owned by commercial banks, according to the fintechs, who contended that the regulation may be misguided.
The National Security Adviser (NSA) of the nation likewise classified cryptocurrencies as a security risk and encouraged fintechs to strengthen fraud and Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols in order to stop cryptocurrency transactions passing through them.
On May 20, 2024, the fintechs were given several conditions for the onboarding freeze to be lifted including asking them to block P2P crypto transfers and mandating physical address verification for all tiers of accounts. The fintechs were also asked to update their facial verification for customers.
