CBN’s hammer falls on 8 PSPs in Nigeria, revokes operating licences

By Charles Abuede

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revoked the operating licences of seven payment services providers and one switch licence operators in Nigeria. The payment service providers include, Easifuel Limited; Transaction Processing System (TPS); Grand Towers Limited; Paymaster Limited; E-Revenue Gateway Limited; Eartholeum Network Limited and Globasure Limited. The only switch licence operator whose licence was revoked is 3Line Card Management Limited.

The apex bank said in an official statement on its website on Thursday that the payment services providers will cease to carry on the type of businesses for which their licences were issued in Nigeria for a continuous period of six months because they failed to comply with the conditions upon which their licences were granted.

The CBN added that the payment services providers failed to comply with the obligations imposed upon them by the CBN in accordance with the provisions of Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) Cap B3, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In two schedules released by the CBN, Governor Godwin Emefiele said that the power to revoke licences is in line with the exercise of his powers as conferred on the Central Bank of Nigeria under the BOFIA, Cap B3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

Meanwhile, the second schedule, which has the 3Line Card Management Limited as a switch licence operator ceased to continue operations in Nigeria as the switch business for which it was licenced was for a period of six months.

Also, the apex bank revealed that the Switch operator had its licence revoked because it failed to comply with the conditions subject to which their licences were granted. Consequently, the failure to comply with the obligations imposed upon it by the CBN, in accordance with the provisions of Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) Cap B3, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria also led to the revocation by the apex bank.