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By Chinwendu Obienyi with agency reports
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has upgraded the operating licences of selected FinTech companies and Microfinance Banks (MFBs) with nationwide operations to national status, as the regulator moves to align supervision with the sector’s rapid expansion.
The decision was disclosed by Yemi Solaja, Director of the Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department at the central bank, during the annual conference of the Committee of Heads of Banks’ Operations held in Lagos recently.
According to Solaja, the regulator identified a widening gap between the limited regional licences held by some digital lenders and payment firms and the national scale of their activities.
“Institutions such as Moniepoint MFB, Opay and Kuda Bank have already been upgraded,” he said. “In reality, their operations now cut across the entire country.”
He stressed that licence upgrades are not automatic, explaining that only institutions that meet strict regulatory benchmarks are granted national approval.
FinTech sector has expanded rapidly in recent years, driven by mobile banking platforms and agent networks that serve millions of informal and underbanked customers.
Many of the firms were originally licensed under unit or state-level microfinance frameworks that restricted operations to specific regions. Despite those limits, platforms including Kuda Bank, Opay, Moniepoint and PalmPay built nationwide customer bases, creating regulatory concerns over oversight, consumer protection and risk management.
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While FinTechs operate primarily through digital channels, the regulator said nationally licensed institutions must maintain physical offices in key locations to support dispute resolution and customer engagement.
Solaja said most FinTech customers operate in the informal sector and require clear channels for escalation when service issues arise.
The CBN also views the sector’s extensive agent networks which span urban and rural communities, as a tool to help reduce Nigeria’s high volume of cash outside the formal banking system.
Under current rules, national microfinance banks must maintain minimum capital of N5 billion, up from N2 billion while state microfinance banks require N1 billion.
On the other hand, unit MFB Tier-1 institutions require N200 million, while Tier-2 banks must hold N50 million.
Major FinTech operators including Opay, Moniepoint, Paga and Kuda Bank operate under these regulatory structures.
The central bank said the reforms form part of its broader effort to strengthen oversight, improve consumer protection and integrate fast-growing digital finance providers into Nigeria’s formal banking system.
