Non-deposit financial institutions to be taken down from fund transfer channels — NIBSS

By Adenle Adedeji

A circular from the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) has directed commercial banks in Nigeria to take down every non-deposit-taking financial institution from their NIP fund transfer channels.

 The non-deposit-taking financial institutions include switching companies, payment solution service providers, and super agents.

The NIP fund transfer channels include USSD, mobile banking apps, POS, ATMs, web and internet platforms.

The circular also clarified that while these financial institutions would be stopped from receiving inflows, they are allowed to process outflows as inflows to banks.

It is expected that affected Fintechs seek to acquire banking licenses that will allow them to hold funds.

 This policy is expected to have an effect on small business owners as they are the major users of these Fintech platforms.

However, following the fears sparked by the new circular, many companies who are presumed to be affected by the circular have issued statements to make clarifications.

Paystack in a mail to its customers said: “We’d like to reassure you that this directive doesn’t impact the Paystack-Titan product or any other Paystack service.

“We developed Paystack-Titan in partnership with Titan Trust Bank, in a way that allows the service to operate compliantly, and it passed review from NIBBS.”

Similarly, PiggyVest in a statement stated: “Hi guys! Kindly note that Piggyvest is not affected by the recent NIBSS circular. Please disregard the misinformation.

“All Piggyvest virtual account numbers are provided by our licensed partners and do not fall into any of the listed categories.Your funds remain safe. =ؙܔ “Following the recent NIBSS circular, kindly note that PocketApp is a Mobile Money Operator duly licensed by the CBN under Abeg technologies.

“Our virtual account numbers are provided by licensed bank partners and they do not fall into any of the categories listed by NIBSS.”