The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has approved new license categorisation for the payments system.
Musa Jimoh, director, Payments System Management Department of the bank, in a statement said that the new framework offers clarity for new and existing market participants.
The statement read:
“Given the significant evolution and innovation in the Nigerian payment system, all payment service providers and stakeholders are invited to note the following,” in this regard, the statement highlighted.
“Payments system licensing has been streamlined according to permissible activities in four broad categories.
“The categories are Switching and Processing, Mobile Money Operations (MMOs), Payment Service Solutions (PSSs) and Regulatory Sandbox.”
He, however, stated that only MMOs were permitted to hold customer funds.
“Payments system companies in the PSS category may hold any of the PSSP, PTSP, and Super Agent licence or a combination of the licences thereof,” he said.
“All payment service providers and stakeholders in the payments system are required to ensure strict compliance with these requirements and all other payment system regulations.”
He said that companies that wish to combine activities under the switching and MMO categories were only permitted to operate under a Holden company structure with subsidiaries clearly delineated.