Follow Us on Google
By Chinwendu Obienyi
Nigeria’s financial services ecosystem is bracing for significant disruption as the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) moves to enforce a major compliance directive requiring all Point of Sale (PoS) operators to obtain formal business registration before January 1, 2026.
The directive, one of the most aggressive regulatory interventions in the country’s fast-growing agent-banking sector, has triggered a sharp divide among industry players, raising questions about legality, operational feasibility, and the future of financial inclusion.
With an estimated 1.8 million PoS agents still unregistered, representing roughly 95 per cent of all operators, the CAC warns that non-compliant terminals will be seized and operators shut down.
The Commission argues that the surge in unregistered agents poses systemic risks, contravenes the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020, and violates Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) agent-banking guidelines designed to ensure traceability within the financial system.
“The reckless practice of onboarding unregistered agents puts Nigeria’s financial system and citizens’ investments at risk,” the CAC said, adding that security agencies would collaborate to enforce nationwide compliance. Fintech companies enabling non-compliance may also be placed on regulatory watchlists.
But the directive has ignited significant pushback, most prominently from the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN). The group’s National President, Fasasi Sharafadeen, said the CAC is acting beyond its mandate and risks undermining financial inclusion gains built over the past decade. According to him, PoS agents already undergo more rigorous onboarding than any other informal business category.
Every PoS agent is already registered with a financial institution, and each device is simultaneously registered with the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System. No other business has these multiple layers of profiling,” Sharafadeen argued.
He questioned the CAC’s claim that its directive is aimed at curbing fraud, noting that many fully registered companies have been implicated in financial crimes, with CAC documentation doing little to prevent illicit behavior.
Sharafadeen further stressed that security concerns within the PoS space are being addressed through existing frameworks led by the CBN, the Department of State Services, the Police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and industry associations.
He said a joint task force sanctioned by the Inspector-General of Police, currently under his coordination, is already sharing intelligence and tackling fraud. Citing CAMA 2020 and CBN regulations, AMMBAN maintains that only non-individual agents, such as business names and enterprises, are required to register with the CAC, while individuals trading under personal names remain exempt.
The group says it may return to court to protect what it describes as the constitutional rights of individual agents should CAC proceed with enforcement.
On the other side of the divide is the Association of Digital Payment and PoS Operators of Nigeria (ADPPON), which supports the federal government’s push to sanitize the industry. ADPPON’s National President, Paul Okafor, said rising fraud, kidnapping-related cashouts, and illicit financial flows justify stronger oversight.
Data presented to the National Assembly shows that fraud in the financial sector surged from N17.67 billion in 2023 to N52.26 billion in 2024, with PoS channels increasingly targeted.
However, ADPPON cautioned that unilateral action from the CAC is unlikely to succeed. The group is calling for a coordinated, multi-agency task force involving the CBN, fintechs, security operatives, and operator associations to jointly design a harmonized compliance timeline, national verification system, and sensitization plan that protects livelihoods while improving security.
With previous CAC deadlines in 2024 missed, largely due to platform inefficiencies and the sheer number of unregistered agents, the 2026 deadline sets the stage for a regulatory showdown that could either formalize a sprawling industry or destabilize millions of small businesses that have become critical to Nigeria’s cash-dependent economy.
