Author: Lawal Nasir

IN February 2024, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released a circular to all Bureau De Change (BDC) operators and stakeholders in the financial service industry, seeking their comments/inputs on the ‘Revised regulatory and supervisory guidelines for Bureau De Change operators in Nigeria – Exposure Draft’. The highlight of the draft, which spread across some 50 pages, was that BDC operators would be required to have a new capital base: N2bn for Tier-1 (i.e. those wishing to have a licence that will allow them operate nationwide) and N500m for Tier-2 (those wishing to operate in one state). BDC operators and…

WHEN in July 2024, the Supreme Court gave a ruling that effectively granted financial autonomy to the 774 local government councils in the country, the development was received with mixed reactions. While many celebrated the position of the nation’s apex court with regards to the third tier of government, Nigerian governors were clearly not happy because, over the years, the state chief executives have appropriated the resources meant for the local governments to themselves. Indeed, the governors’ total grip on the local government was so strong that many considered the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment impossible. Even Justice Emmanuel…

THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has just introduced a daily cash transaction limit of N100,000 per individual customer for Point-of-Sale (PoS) agents as part of its latest move to promote its cashless policy and tackle the current cash scarcity in the country. According to a circular addressed to all Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), microfinance banks, mobile money operators and super-agents, titled ‘Cash-out limits for agent banking transactions,’ the apex bank reeled out new directives, which all principals of agents must comply with. Some of these directives are: “Issuers shall set a cash withdrawal limit (cash-out) per customer (regardless of…