The Central Bank of Nigeria has increased the minimum statutory capital for payment solutions service providers (PSSPs), from N100 million to N250 million.
In a similar vein, the capital requirements for switching and processing licence and mobile money operator licence remains unchanged at N2 billion. In addition, that of payment terminal service provider (PTSP) licence and super-agent licence also remained unchanged at N100 million and N50 million respectively.
The aforementioned information is part of a recent disclosure by the apex bank contained in its recent circular, as seen by naijabusiness.com.ng. Sequel to this, the Central Bank of Nigeria emphasized that the new capital requirements are applicable to all concerned firms registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission, with Memorandum and Article of Association. The concerned firms include; mobile money operators (MMOs), payment solution services (PSSs), payment terminal service providers (PTSPs), PSSPs and super-agent firms.
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One of the common capital requirements across board irrespective of the business categorization is the fact that the preceding 3-years audited financial statements of the company (if applicable) will be made available to regulatory authorities. Other variable requirements which depends on the business class are; shareholders’ fund unimpaired by losses and Escrow of refundable sum which is to be paid into CBN PSP Share Capital Deposit Account No. 1000014009.
In terms of documentary requirements, items like CAC certificate, Memorandum and Articles of Association, tax clearance certificate, company’s profile, business plan, board structure etc., are required and scrutinized.
Recall that in December 2020, CBN had approved a new licence categorisation for payment service providers and other financial institutions in Nigeria, in a deliberate attempt to eschew strong and credible payment system.
In another development, naijabusiness.com.ng understands that the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria had today voted to maintain a Monetary Policy Rate of 11.5%. Other parameters like CRR and Liquidity Ratio were held constant at 27.5% and 30% respectively.
