CBN Withdraws Licences of Seven Payment Service Providers 

The Central Bank of Nigeria has  withdrawn the operating licenses of   seven Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and one Switch Service Provider.

The license revocation order was contained in the Official Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria  released Thursday by the regulator.

The CBN said the affected operators  were unable to meet up with their statutory obligations as specified in the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) CAP B3, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004.

The affected payment service providers (PSPs) are Easifuel Limited, Transaction Processing System (TPS), Grand Towers Limited, Paymaster Limited, E-Revenue Gateway Limited, Eartholeum Network Limited and Globasure Limited. The 3Line Card Management Limited also lost its switch license.

By the BOFIA establishing the operators,  PSPs and Switch operators  carry out specific services including  Point of Sale (POS) terminal deployment and services, Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Merchant/agent training and support, switching, card processing, transactions clearing and settlement agents among others.

The CBN guidelines stipulated that a minimum capital requirements to operate in Payment Service Providing and Switching/Processing capacities are N100 million and N2 billion respectively.

Announcing the licenses withdrawal, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele said: “I, Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, in exercise of the powers conferred on the Central Bank of Nigeria under Sections 60 and 62 of BOFIA, CAP B3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 hereby revoke the licenses of the payment service providers listed in Schedule I and the switch licence of payment services providers listed in Schedule II attached hereto”. 

The apex bank has continually renewed  its drive to strengthen and ensure a credible payment system in Nigeria amidst the new wave of Fintechs in the country offering varying but often nuanced services.

The affected institutions will for a period of six months consecutively, cease to carry on in Nigeria, the type of business for which their licenses were granted.

The affected institutions are categorized into two schedules, with the first comprising of the seven PSPs whose licenses were revoked, while the other comprised of a PSP whose Switch license was revoked.