The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed four fintech companies to suspend the onboarding of new customers. The affected fintech firms OPay, Palmpay, Kuda Bank, and Moniepoint, have come under scrutiny due to allegations of their accounts being utilised for illicit foreign exchange transactions.
investigations revealed that most insider-related bank frauds were carried out via these fintech companies, particularly OPay accounts. According to sources, representatives from two of the companies acknowledged that the CBN’s directive was linked to fraudulent allegations.
Confirming the development in a statement on Tuesday, OPay said it has suspended the onboarding of new customers to “support government efforts to clean up the financial industry”.
However, they argued that the CBN’s directive might be misdirected, pointing out that the majority of the implicated accounts are held by commercial banks rather than fintech platforms. It would be recalled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) recently sought and obtained a court order to freeze about 1,146 bank accounts owned by individuals and companies linked to illegal foreign exchange transactions.
