The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) today sustained the position of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) that all agents within the Fintech mobile payment cluster are under obligation to register their businesses.
The CAC had previously stated that all Fintechs must register with the CAC before commencing business in line with the express provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, CAMA 2020.
The meeting held at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was presided over by the Apex Bank Governor, Olayemi Cardoso.
The Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Hussaini Ishaq Magaji, SAN, had earlier submitted that Section 863(1) of CAMA 2020 provides that “A person or association of persons shall not carry on business in Nigeria as a company, limited liability partnership, limited partnership, or under a business name without being registered under the Act.
He further stated that Section 863 (2) further made it a criminal offence punishable with a 200,000 Naira daily fine for failure to comply with Section 863 (1).
In his submission, Hussaini Magaji therefore strongly suggested that the CBN should advise all banks and mobile money operators to inform their agents that have not registered any form of business entity with the Commission to do so within 2 months to avoid the criminal sanctions contained in Section 863(2) of CAMA 2020.
CAC News reports that the meeting was attended by CEOs of SEC, NDIC, PENCOM, FINANCIAL REPORTING CONCIL, and all the Deputy Governors of CBN.