The Central Bank of Nigeria has unveiled plans for a new licensing regime for FinTechs operating in the country.
The central bank issued a draft policy document detailing the creation of a new licensing regime for financial technology companies and payments service providers. The emergence of FinTechs companies “accentuates the known risks within the financial system”, said the document seen by FinExtra.
The proposed licencing would address concerns around cyber security, capital adequacy and operational oversight. The plans include three types of licence each providing permissions to carry out different activities: basic, standard and super.
The basic licence would cost start-ups $275,000 in shareholder funds, while a super licence would set back FinTechs by $14m.
The plans may come as pertinent news to the growing number of FinTech in the country raising multi-million-dollar funding rounds.
In September Nigeria-based payments company Paga has raised $10m in a Series B2 round led by the Global Innovation Fund. Nigerian payments platform Paystack also raised $8m in its Series A round in August.
Earlier this year Nigeria-based automated savings platform Piggybank.ng raised $1.1m in a seed round after recently acquired a micro-financing license from the central bank.
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