FG To Clampdown On Illegal Financial Services Providers
BY VICTOR BUORO – The Federal Government is set to clamp down on illegal online financial services being promoted by financial technology companies, Fintechs, as a way of checking fraudulent and abusive practices in the industry.
The move, aimed at limiting activities in the sector to only those licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), will close down illicit businesses and engage App stores to shut down certain infringing financial applications.
According to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), presently, most of the operators are not regulated by any government authority and are engaging in activities ranging from savings to lending as well as micro-investments and digital currency trading.
Consequently, the FCCPC says the joint committee tackling violation of consumer rights in the money lending industry will shut down these illegal businesses to protect unsuspecting members of the public from being unduly exploited and scammed.
The Chief Executive Officer of FCCPC, Babatunde Irukera, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja that the committee, expected to commence operation soon, would also be writing provisional regulations for the money lending companies.
Irukera is quoted as saying; “The joint committee is meeting and agreeing on how to proceed, but I can say that two of the entities of the joint committee will be going on the field and doing enforcement work now, very shortly.
“They will be closing down businesses and engaging App stores to shut down certain applications that are infringing and abusive. We are also going to be writing interim regulations and some basic information for all these money lenders to provide information so that people will know who they are.
“Some of them are just apps that we do not even know who the promoters are. So we are going to provide certain frameworks for them to comply with before doing business.”
On the increasing number of consumer complaints about services by insurance companies, Irukera said that the commission was progressing in their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
According to FCCPC boss, with the MoU finalised early next year, the Commission expects to have robust and more industry-wide interventions within that sector, adding; “We get a lot more complaints about the insured who have paid their premium and have not been settled, and so we are engaging NAICOM on that.”
Agencies represented in the joint committee are the FCCPC, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). – With NAN report
