Business

CBN To Audit E-payment System, Watchlists 572 Bank Customers

Published

2 years ago

May 3, 2023

Editor

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has said it will soon audit the nation’s payment system in order to cope with future growth in electronic banking transactions.

The audit follows the challenges and widespread transaction failure experienced by bank customers due to the spike in the number of e-payment transactions during the naira redesign programme.

Meanwhile, the apex has placed an e-payment ban on the Biometric Verification Number, BVN, of 572 bank customers for fraud related issues.

Deputy Director, Payment System Department, CBN, Adewuyi Adeyemi disclosed this at the 34th CBN seminar for finance correspondents and business editors in Calabar, Cross Rivers State.

He said: “In the last four years we have had a spike in transactions twice. First time was during COVID and January this year, during the currency redesign. Actually there are advantages and disadvantages to that spike in volume.

“During the COVID, we had Payment System Vision, PSV 2020, where we were trying to drive e-payment adoption across many sectors of the economy. COVID actually pushed the bar because our target for e-payment transactions was actually exceeded.

“The same thing happened this year. I can say we were actually not ready for the spike in volume we experienced during the naira redesign. That is one of the reasons why we decided internally that this year we should actually conduct an infrastructure audit based on the principle of Financial Market Infrastructure which is an international standard.

“We have done it before. It was part of the PSV 2020. We did it in 2018. So we know how to do it. We are not doing it as CBN. We are actually hiring a foreign consultant to do it to ensure there is no bias.

“The audit will give us an opportunity to benchmark our maturity level against international standards. That way we will be able to identify gaps in our infrastructure that we need to close if you really want to be there.”

Meanwhile, Adeyemi also disclosed that CBN has placed an e-payment ban on the BVN of 572 bank customers due to fraud related issues.

Adeyemi further explained that the BVN of the 572 customers have been placed on watchlist, which means they have been banned from the e-payment system and can only conduct banking transactions by visiting the bank branch where their account is domiciled.
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Business

CBN Sets POS Maximum Transactions In Fresh Guidelines

Published

2 days ago

October 8, 2025

Editor

The Central Bank of Nigeria has rolled out fresh guidelines for agent banking, known as Point of Sales, across the country.

The apex also in the guidelines pegged daily POS transactions at N1.2 million per agent and N100,000 per individual.

CBN disclosed this in a circular signed by its Director of the Payments System Management Department, Musa Jimoh.

The guidelines further mandate all financial institutions to publish the list of all their POS agents on their website and to display it in their branches.

CBN noted that the guidelines would take effect from April 1, 2026.

“The Guidelines aim to establish minimum standards for operating agent banking in Nigeria, enhancing agent banking to provide financial services and promoting financial inclusion, encouraging responsible market conduct and improving service quality in agent banking operations.

“This circular takes effect from the date of release, while the implementation of agent location and agent exclusivity shall be in effect from April 1, 2026.

“POS agents are restricted to a maximum of N1.2 million per day. Individual customers are limited to N100,000 in daily transactions.

“These limits are intended to curb misuse, enhance financial integrity, and protect consumers within the agent banking framework,” it stated.

Business

Naira Records First Appreciation Against US Dollar At Official Market

Published

2 days ago

October 8, 2025

Editor

The Naira recorded appreciation on Wednesday against the United States dollar at the official market, the first time in three days this week.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s exchange rate data showed that the Naira strengthened to N 1,470.62 per dollar on Wednesday, up from N1,471.09 traded on Tuesday.

This means that the country’s currency firmed up slightly by N0.47 against the dollar on a day-to-day basis.

Monday and Tuesday, the Naira recorded negative sentiment at the official foreign exchange market.

However, at the black market, the Naira remained unchanged at N1,500 per dollar on Wednesday, the same rate exchanged on Tuesday.

The apex bank data indicated that the country’s external reserves, a determinant of the exchange rates, stood at $42.57 billion as of October 7, 2025.

Business

SEC Warns Nigerians Of AfriQuantumX Ponzi scheme

Published

2 days ago

October 8, 2025

Editor

Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has named AfriQuatum, with a claimed worth of N76 billion, as a Ponzi scheme.

The regulator also urged the public to be cautious about investing with the firm.

SEC disclosed this in a recent statement.

According to the SEC, any person who places an investment or engages with the entity does so at his or her own risk, adding that its operations exhibit characteristics commonly associated with fraudulent Ponzi schemes.

“The attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission has been drawn to the activities of AfriQuantumX, which holds itself out as an investment platform trading on and selling cryptocurrency and stocks to investors in Nigeria.

“The Commission hereby informs the public that AfriQuantumX is not registered by the Commission either to solicit investments from the public or operate in any capacity within the Nigerian capital market,” SEC stated.