- Emefiele: CBN, FCA to Regulate FinTechs
Regulation of the Financial Technology (FinTech) firms operating in Nigeria will soon commence, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has said. He spoke after a meeting with the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, Wednesday night, in Lagos.
Speaking to the media at the end of the meeting, Emefiele said it was an opportunity for the CBN to partner with the Financial Control Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom to regulate the FinTech industry in Nigeria.
“Basically it was a meeting where the Prime Minister met with leaders of businesses and financial services in Nigeria and we also had the opportunity of networking with some of the business leaders she came with from the UK. It was a good meeting and she had some one-on-one with some very important Nigerian business, all with a view to see how the Nigerian businesses can work, partner and collaborate with businesses from UK. It was a very successful one,” Emefiele said.
“From our banking side, we spoke extensively with the Financial Control Authority, which is one of the agencies in UK that has some kind of regulations on Fintech businesses. Nigeria being a country that has a lot of opportunities particularly because of our large population of young people who are interested in Fintech businesses, we had opportunity to hold discussions with them and we have agreed that we would meet some other time to think on how to set up acceptable regulation for FinTechs, regulations not as stringent as what the banks would be, but one way or the other, the fintechs have to be regulated,” he added.