E-Financial
CBN, Firm Sign $50m Banking Biometric Capture Deal
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Dermalog BMS, a German company, have signed a $50 million Banking Industry Biometric Solutions Project in furtherance of the regulator’s bid to achieve more reliable, technology-driven, fraud-free banking services delivery in the country.
According to the agreement, the first phase of the project would connect the Central Data point to at least one branch of each bank, the CBN and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) within 90 days.
This will be followed by the second phase, which will ensure full capture of biometric details of all bank customers nationwide within 12 months.
The project is expected to provide a centralised platform through which banks may enroll and uniquely verify the identity of each customer for ‘know your customer’ (KYC) purposes, perform credit checks, verify customer’s integrity and to authenticate customers from a point of transaction device.
Speaking on the project and its importance to efforts targeted at curbing the increasing incidents of compromise on conventional security systems in the industry, Lamido Sanusi, CBN Governor, said the project represented a major landmark in the Bankers Committee’s efforts at promoting financial inclusion drive, expanding banking services, access to credit and more importantly, dealing with money laundering and other problems that the industry is still contending with.
He explained that the CBN and the banks decided to embark on the project as a proactive strategy to enhance the integrity of banking services delivery by building a reliable customer identification system which, he said, would help in complementing the other projects being embarked upon by various government agencies, including the National Identity Card project, to build a single identification database for all Nigerians.
Sanusi said the scope of the project goes beyond the banking sector customers and has implications for those in micro finance banks, pension funds, insurance companies, stock market investors and dealers, amongst others. He said when operational, the project would help create a credible national image for Nigeria globally, deal with money laundering and other frauds and help the banks to extend credit to people without worrying about where to find them and who they are.
He explained: “We took a decision almost two years ago that it is not wise to continue waiting for the bigger projects to happen and we have to, as it were, take our own destinies into our own hands and start our own KYC and an identification data base. We set up a Committee chaired by the Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank with membership from Access, First Bank, UBA and Skye Bank CEOs were part of that committee.
E-Financial
Lagos State Appoints MoneyMaster as Payment Partner for “Ounje Eko” Programme
“Ounje Eko”, the food price discount initiative of the Lagos State Government, has appointed leading payment service bank, MoneyMaster Payment Service Bank Limited (MMPSB), as its collaborator in the bid to ensure ease of payments at the market.
MoneyMaster is one of the Central Bank of Nigeria-licensed Payment Service Banks (PSBs) to promote financial inclusion across Nigeria.
Under the partnership, MMPSB will apply its cutting-edge payment solution to engender easy payment and reconciliation in order to make the experiences of Lagosians who will be getting their food supplies from the markets pleasurable. Its payment solution is also all-encompassing and ensures real time value to payment destinations.
The mobile bank was appointed as the collection and payment partner for “Ounje Eko” Food Markets programme which is a government initiative serving the five divisions of Lagos State. Consequent on this, MoneyMaster Payment Service Bank will collect payments in 57 LCDAs in the state.
The partnership gives credence to the quality of payment solutions that MoneyMaster is reputed for in its services to its growing business clientele in private and public sectors.
E-Financial
CBN, EFCC Probe Banks, Firms over Alleged Forex Racketeering
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is investigating irregular foreign exchange transactions and forward contracts valued at approximately $2.4 billion.
The inquiry follows an extensive audit by Deloitte, which scrutinized $7 billion in dollar debts accumulated under the bank’s previous leadership.
In the aftermath of the 294th Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Abuja, Yemi Cardoso, governor of CBN, disclosed to journalists that the investigation, supported by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, among other security bodies, aims to clarify the legitimacy of these FX allocations identified as problematic by the audit.
“It was determined that a number of these transactions did not qualify…they were outright illegal. The law enforcement agencies are now looking into those transactions that as far as we are concerned, are not valid to be paid,” Cardoso detailed, emphasizing the unlawful nature of these forex deals.
The crux of the investigation lies in the audit findings that a significant portion of the scrutinized transactions lacked proper documentation and, in many instances, were deemed outright illegal.
However, the unfolding investigation has raised concerns within the organized private sector, with some entities contemplating legal action against commercial banks for unresolved forex bids.
Despite these tensions, Governor Cardoso reassures that the foreign exchange market remains open and transparent, inviting stakeholders to address their forex needs through the official channels.
Furthermore, Cardoso clarified the distribution of fertilizers to farmers as a one-off measure and not indicative of a shift back to direct interventions by the CBN, underscoring a commitment to strategic, regulatory governance rather than direct market involvement.
E-Financial
CBN Urges Banks to Expedite Action on Recapitalisation
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed deposit money banks in the country to expedite action to increase their capital base from the current ₦25bn.
Olayemi Cardoso, governor of CBN, stated this during the apex bank’s 294th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on Tuesday in Abuja, when the MPC hiked the interest rate by 22.75% to 24.75%.
The apex bank chief said the MPC examined developments in the banking sector and expressed satisfaction that the industry remained stable. The committee, however, said to guard against risk, commercial banks in the country should accelerate their recapitalisation efforts.
Cardoso said, “The MPC also reviewed developments in the banking system and noted that the industry remains safe, sound, and stable. The committee thus called on the bank to sustain its surveillance and ensure compliance of banks with existing regulatory and macro-potential guidelines.
“The MPC also enjoined the banks to expedite actions on the recapitalisation of banks to strengthen the system against potential risks in an increasingly globalised world.”
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CBN, EFCC Probe Banks, Firms over Alleged Forex Racketeering