As part of sweeping policy reforms aimed at improving liquidity in Nigeria’s FX market, the central bank (CBN) will no longer allow banks and fintech startups to carry out international money transfer operations.
According to the new rules published on Wednesday, the bank also increased the application fees for International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) approval to N10 million [$6,845]. The rules are a revision of earlier guidelines released in 2014. The new rules also set a minimum operating capital of $1 million for foreign IMTOs and its naira equivalent for their indigenous counterparts.
Nigeria’s apex financial regulator had previously granted international money transfer licences to fintech companies including Flutterwave, LemFi, PagaTech, Flutterwave, VFD, and Interswitch among others. The revised guidelines didn’t state whether the existing licences would be revoked.
The apex bank described the new rules as designed to “liberalise the foreign exchange market and ensure transparency.” It said that commercial banks will be allowed to act as agents for international money transfer services. In another circular, the CBN removed the…
Ganiu Oloruntade
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https://techcabal.com/2024/02/02/cbn-imto-operations/
