Nigeria’s Central Bank on Thursday approved new license categorization for the payment system with corresponding minimum capital requirements ranging from N50 million to N2 billion.
This is in line with its commitment to promote a strong and credible payment system. The four new licensed categorisation are: switching and processing, Mobile Money Operation (MMO), Payment Solution Services (PSSs), and regulatory sandbox.
Read also: CBN issues framework for management of risks in payments system
“Only MMOs are permitted to hold customers funds. Companies with licensees within any of the other categories are not allowed to hold customers funds,” Musa Jimo, director, payment system management department said in a circular to all payments service providers, banks, and Other Financial Institutions (OFIs), released on Thursday.
Hope Moses-Ashike
Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks.
She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings.
Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.
