Senate moves to strengthen oversight of Nigeria’s fintech sector

The Senate on Thursday passed for second reading a bill seeking to overhaul the regulatory framework for Nigeria’s rapidly expanding financial technology ecosystem.

Sponsored by Senator Mukhail Adetokunbo Abiru (Lagos East) and co-sponsored by members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, the bill proposes amendments to the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020 to provide for the designation, registration and enhanced supervision of Systemically Important Institutions.

Leading the debate, Senator Abiru said the amendment was necessary due to the fast-paced evolution of technology-driven financial services and the emerging risks posed by large-scale fintech operators.

He noted that mobile money operators, payment service banks, digital lenders and switching companies now handle vast transactions and consumer data, making them crucial to commerce and financial inclusion.

He said that although BOFIA 2020 empowers the CBN to designate systemically important financial institutions, the law is currently tailored toward traditional deposit money banks, leaving a significant regulatory gap.

The bill seeks to empower the CBN to impose enhanced risk-based supervision, establish a national registry for fintechs, strengthen data sovereignty and improve consumer protection.

During the debate, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP, Kogi Central) underscored the need to safeguard Nigeria’s digital economy and its young content creators.

She noted the growing significance of social media as a source of employment for millions of youths and expressed concern over what she described as “a huge discrepancy” in payments to Nigerian creators compared to their counterparts abroad, especially on platforms such as Facebook.

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