The amendment to the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act would let the Central Bank of Nigeria designate big non-bank firms as systemically important; it still needs the House and presidential assent.
Nigeria’s Senate on Tuesday passed for third reading SB 959, an amendment to the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020 that would let the Central Bank of Nigeria designate large fintech companies and other non-bank financial institutions as Systemically Important Institutions and place them under enhanced prudential supervision, ThisDay reported. Designated firms would face stress tests, data-integrity assessments, stricter rules on governance, cybersecurity and technology risk, supervisory access to their systems and stronger beneficial-ownership disclosure, with sanctions for breaches. The bill does not name companies; it sets criteria such as size, transaction volumes, customer base and interconnectedness, and creates an official register of designated institutions. Regulators including the CBN, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation backed it at a public hearing in March, according to the committee’s report. It must still pass the House of Representatives and receive the President’s assent.
Sources: ThisDay · TheCable · National Assembly Library Trust Fund