Panic As CBN Bans Opay, Palmpay, Others’ New Accounts

There is palpable panic among some bank customers as the Central Bank of Nigeria placed a ban on mobile money operators including fintech firms from onboarding new customers.

This is even as the Bank Customers Association of Nigeria backed the CBN directive.

The new directive is expected to affect fintech companies such as OPay, Palmpay, Kuda Bank, and Moniepoint, from opening new accounts until further notice.

Reliable sources from three major fintechs who requested not to be mentioned as they were not permitted to speak, confirmed the development to newsmen on Monday.

It was learnt that the CBN’s move was linked to an ongoing audit of the Know-Your-Customer process of the fintechs, which have been under scrutiny in recent months over concerns around money laundering and terrorism financing.

Reports indicated that the CBN had summoned some of the heads of fintechs to Abuja to discuss issues around KYC last week.

A source from Moniepoint said the company have complied with the directive, effectively halting new account creation on their platform. However, the source denied having anything to do with KYC.

“It’s just a regulation from the CBN, and we’ve complied. The real question is, why are fintechs always targeted,” he source argued.

“It has nothing to do with KYC; I am aware that the CBN communicated, but this particular issue dwells on accounts related to cryptocurrency transactions,” the source revealed.