A federal high court in Lagos has struck out a case against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over its directive requiring banks to collect and verify social media handles as part of their know-your-customer (KYC) requirement.

In June 2023, the apex bank issued the directive, saying the aim is to prevent financial crime, and terrorism, as well as boost the precision and thoroughness of customer identification.

Chris Eke, the applicant and a customer, represented by Olubunmi Abayomi-Olukunle, a lawyer, had filed suit number FHC/L/CS/1281/2023 in July 2023, arguing the CBN’s directive infringed upon constitutional rights, particularly section 37 of the 1999 constitution.

Nnamdi Dimgba, presiding judge, struck out the suit filed by Eke, which sought a declaration that the regulation as contained in section 6(a)(iv) of the CBN (customer due diligence) Regulations, 2023, is “undemocratic, unconstitutional, null and void”.

The CBN, in its response to the suit, filed a notice of preliminary objection, challenging the competence of the suit and disagreeing with the claim of interference with the applicant’s private life.

In his judgment, Dimgba held that the notice of preliminary objection had merit, subsequently striking out the suit.

The judge ruled that providing a social media handle is equivalent to providing email and phone numbers for potential customers, and therefore, it does not violate the right to privacy.

“First, the applicant claims that the requirements on the CBN regulations for financial institutions to request and collect the social media handle of its customers as part of KYC infringes on his right to privacy,” the judge said.

“This claim is very ambitious and amounts to a very far throw. The said regulations are directed to and apply to financial institutions.  It does not apply to private individuals such as the applicant.

“Even if, as appears to be argued, that the regulations itself would inevitably affect the applicant, this claim is speculative for the simple reason that in nowhere in the affidavit in support was it stated that the applicant operates an account with a financial institution and that the said institution had demanded his social media handle.”

Consequently, the judge said the suggestion that he would be negatively affected by the regulation is very “speculative and at large”.

He said there is a lack of evidence suggesting financial institutions have implemented the regulation, and it is causing disruptions and inconvenience.

Furthermore, Dimgba said if the applicant is “irritated by the requirement of the regulation”, he has a choice to “refuse to do business with any bank insisting on the information as part of its social media handle, but to seek other alternatives”.

‘PROVISION OF SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES TO BANKS DO NOT TRANSLATE TO BREACH’

Dimgba said banks asking customers or potential clients to provide their social media handles is not a breach of privacy.

He said the essence of having a social media account was for one to be publicly visible communication-wise.

According to the judge, a social media handle, being in the public space, can be accessed by everyone whether or not consent was obtained.

As a result, he said it would be unreasonable to hold the respondent in breach of privacy.

“The apprehension of the Applicant of his social interactions being monitored is manifestly speculative in itself and rather incredulous to believe that the financial institutions have the luxury of time to concern itself with such frivolities,” the judge said.

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that it has granted 14 new International Money Transfer Operators, IMTOs Approval-in-Principle (AIP) to double foreign-currency remittance inflows through formal channels amid foreign currency crisis.

Hakama Sidi Ali, acting director of Corporate Communications, CBN, disclosed this in a statement that the he initiative will help increase the sustained supply of foreign exchange in the official market by promoting greater competition and innovation amongst IMTOs, lowering the cost of remittance transactions and boosting financial inclusion.

CBN’s thinking is that increasing formal remittance flows, which are one of the major sources of foreign exchange and account for over 6 per cent of gross domestic product, would help ease the historical volatility in Nigeria’s exchange rate caused by external factors, such as fluctuations in foreign investment and oil export proceeds.

This will spur liquidity in Nigeria’s Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), augmenting price discovery to enable a market-driven fair value for the naira,” Olayemi Cardoso, the CBN Governor, recently disclosed the apex bank’s target to double remittance flows into Nigeria within a year, which he firmly believed was possible.

On Wednesday, the Naira recorded its first N61 gain against the dollar at the foreign exchange market for the first time after weeks of decline.

Digital banking platform PalmPay has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the financial inclusion initiative of the federal government to ensure that banking services are extended to every Nigerian in the country’s hinterland.

Mr. Chika Nwosu, the Managing Director of PalmPay Nigeria, stated this when he appeared as a guest on the Channels TV Business Roundtable programme recently. He said, PalmPay supports the government’s financial inclusion initiatives through its Agency banking system that is located in almost all the local government areas of the country.

“In addition, PalmPay has walk-in offices in locations across 25 states in Nigeria. We also add value to the economy through our payment system as well as our offer to Nigerians of 20% interest on their savings with our platform,” Mr. Nwosu said.

On building trust in Nigeria’s digital banking ecosystem, he added: “Initially when we started, there was an issue of trust. However, I can tell you now that in the last one year after the cashless policy, has seen the trust start to grow.

“There is no day you won’t see on our app boldly written that we are licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and our deposits are insured by the Nigeria Deposits Insurance Corporation (NDIC). PalmPay is here to stay,” Mr. Nwosu said, adding that Nigerians are massively embracing the PalmPay App and digital payment services.

He reiterated his company’s support to regulators of the industry aimed at making their operations better and to offer more services to Nigerians. “Whatever that is happening with regulation is for the good of the FinTech space in Nigeria. All the regulators want to do is make the services of strong players in the FinTech space, such as PalmPay, better”.

On the recent onboarding policy by the regulator, he stated that PalmPay agreed with the regulators on some grey areas that need to be put in place.

He reassured customers that there was no issue with using PalmPay, and emphasized, “If PalmPay completes their own today, we will start onboarding today”.

He noted that: “As of the time of this interview, no fintech platform has completed any of the requirements set out by the regulators. So, no onboarding is currently taking place in the entire ecosystem”.

Responding to the question of failed transactions, an issue that is more prevalent with money deposit banks than with digital banking platforms, Mr. Nwosu said: “Every institution has its business strategy and infrastructure. For us and the majority of Fintechs, we have a structure that makes transactions seamless”.