- CBN to Sanction Banks for Payment System Infractions
The Central Bank of Nigeria has indicated a plan to sanction any banks that violate the country’s payment system’s rules and regulations.
The Deposit Money Banks in the country and other operators in the National Payments System would be slammed with a penalty of N10,000 per day as long as the infractions subsisted, the CBN said in a circular on Monday.
According to the circular, the infractions have to do with the renewal and validity of the banks and operators’ licences.
The provisions of the circular would become effective April 1, 2018, the CBN said.
The regulator said the circular was a follow up to the earlier one sent on July 29, 2015.
The circular read, “Further to our circular referenced BP5IDIR/GENICIR/02/007, dated July 29, 2015, on the above subject, please be informed that operators in the National Payments System shall be sanctioned with a penalty of N10,000.00 per day for as long as the infractions below subsist: Failure to apply for the renewal of an operating licence three months before the date of expiration of the licence; failure to regularise and respond to observations/exceptions noted by the bank in the course of processing an application for the renewal of an operating licence within three weeks; and licensed operators in the Nigerian Payments System should note that the provisions of this circular become effective April 1, 2018.”
The CBN has unveiled a number of initiatives aimed at making the nation’s payment system among the best as the country steps up efforts to be ranked among the 20 top economies globally by the year 2020.
The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, recently said the Financial System Strategy and Payment System Vision 20:2020 was aiming to make Nigeria the financial hub of Africa.
