E-Financial
Moniepoint Restates Commitment to Financial Inclusion in Nigeria
Moniepoint MFB, leading Fintech company in Nigeria, has restated its commitment to driving financial inclusion through innovative products that address payment challenges in the country.
L-R: Mr. Henry Ojiokpota; Lagos Zonal Controller and representative of the EVC/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida, Mr. Chike Onwuegbuchi; Chairman of NITRA, Bemigho Awala; PR Manager for MoniePoint Inc,and Efemena Ogie, Head of Partnerships Moniepoint Inc at the NITRA Fintech Forum in Lagos.
Efemena Ogie, Head of Partnerships at Moniepoint Inc, stated this at a Fintech Forum organized by the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters Association (NITRA) in Lagos.
According to Ogie, it was in line with this commitment that the company developed an innovation of PoS alert for mobile transfers.
According to him, this is helping businesses using Moniepoint’s PoS machines to receive instant credit alerts when their customers make transfers to their accounts. He said this has also taken the customers’ burden of waiting for merchants to receive alerts before they can leave.
Explaining the innovation, Ogie said: “We had to think outside the box to make life easy when you want to make payments. If you go to a supermarket and you forget your card and you want to make a payment, you will have to make a transfer.
“But at some point, you have to wait until the merchant gets an alert before you can leave. You can just get angry at that point because your account has been debited.
“We saw that there is a better way to do that, so what we did was that instead of waiting, when you do a transfer, the alert should just hit the PoS, and that transaction will be seen as a card transaction and the merchant is able to print your receipt right there.”
Ogie added that more innovations are coming into the payment space in Nigeria, especially with the ongoing implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Payment System Vision 2025.
“In a couple of months from now, you’re going to see some massive innovation in the payment space because if you look at the CBN’s Payment System Vision 2025, in the documents, you have things like big data, artificial intelligence, contactless payments, and open banking.
“As we are talking, the CBN has also released the guidelines for open banking, so it’s not something that will happen in 10 years but it’s happening right now.
“The CBN has also released the circular for contactless payments. At Moniepoint, we are already working for our customers, we are already thinking outside the box to see how we can deploy services around these platforms,” Ogie said.
In his opening remarks at the Forum themed “Harnessing Nigeria’s Fintech Potentials: Challenges and Opportunities”, the Chairman of NITRA, Mr. Chike Onwuegbuchi noted that fintech has become the most exciting sector in the ICT industry, and in Nigeria as a whole.
He added that the focus on the sector which is seen as the engine of financial dealings, economic growth, and transactional unification, was to present and aid various other sectors from the grassroots to international business/trade.
Bemigho Awala, PR Manager for MoniePoint Inc, used the forum to share perspectives around how opportunities in Nigeria’s fintech space can be robustly captured.
He cited the need for increased talent development in the industry while signposting Moniepoint NITHub initiative as an exemplar.
Awala also made the case for innovative systems, enhanced due diligence and innovative solutions that meet market demand as critical pillars that undergird the emergence of a fintech ecosystem that works for all stakeholders.
“Know Your Customer” (KYC) has become a cornerstone in establishing trust, ensuring security, and complying with regulatory standards. KYC is not merely an acronym; it represents a crucial set of processes designed to verify and authenticate the identity of customers engaging in financial transactions.
“As a responsible and compliant organization, we will continue to explore innovative tools and methodologies while actively collaborating and cooperating with all stakeholders in the financial services value chain to reduce the menace of fraud-related transactions”, Awala said.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) “over the failure to disclose the details of any direct payments to the 774 local government councils in Nigeria including the amounts sent to each council.”
Kolawole Oluwadare, deputy director, SERAP, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
He said the group’s suit followed a landmark judgment by the Supreme Court last July, which held that allocations from the Federation Account with the CBN must be paid directly to democratically elected local government councils and that no governor has the power to keep, control or use the money meant for the councils.
In the suit number FHC/L/MSC/521/2025 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Lagos, SERAP is asking the court to “direct and compel the CBN to disclose the details of any direct payments to the 774 local government councils in Nigeria including the amounts sent to each council since the Supreme Court judgment.
The statement also noted that SERAP is also asking the court to “direct and compel the CBN to disclose whether any direct payment has been made from the Federation Account with the CBN to the local government councils in Rivers State and to explain the rationale for any such payment.”
“The CBN should make it possible for citizens to have access to the details of any direct payments to the 774 local government councils to ensure transparency and accountability, and judge whether the CBN and other agencies are complying with the Supreme Court judgment,” the group said in the suit.
“Granting the reliefs sought would go a long way in promoting the values and principles that underlie the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and are inherent characteristics of an open democratic society.
“State governors are starving local governments of funds and putting them in peril, despite the Supreme Court’s binding orders. State governors’ blatant disregard for the Supreme Court’s orders undermines the integrity of the court and poses a direct challenge to the rule of law.
“The CBN ought to act in the public interest to ensure that the 774 councils in the country directly get their own money from the Federation Account, as ordered by the Supreme Court.
“The CBN also has the constitutional and statutory duty to ensure that no part of the Federation is governed contrary to the Nigerian Constitution or by anybody that is not constitutionally empowered to do so.
“The CBN should be facilitating compliance with the Supreme Court’s orders. If state governors get away with ignoring the court, it will undermine the ability of the bank to credibly perform its statutory duties.
“States and the FCT have continued to undermine and endanger the existence of local governments and their ability to effectively function as the third tier of government as envisioned under the Nigerian Constitution.
“The CBN has a constitutional and statutory duty to protect the allocations in the Federation Account and the public funds disbursed from that Account directly to each of the constitutionally recognized three tiers of government.”
Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) has affirmed that the recent purchase of 18 million units of Fidelity Bank shares by its Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, was conducted in full compliance with applicable regulations.
In a letter dated May 22, 2025, the regulator dismissed allegations of insider trading and the misuse of bank funds for the transaction stating “….Following the filing of the Bank’s 2025 Q1 UFS on 30 April 2025, the Directors and other insiders of the Bank became eligible to trade on the securities of the Bank after twenty-four (24) hours.
“Therefore, the share purchase transaction referenced by Sahara Reporters which occurred on 19 May 2025 was transacted during an open trading window and NGX RegCo is not aware of any other price sensitive information that the Bank is required to disclose which should hinder trades on the securities of the Bank by insiders.”
Fidelity Bank has subsequently issued a statement addressing the accusations, categorizing them as false, misleading, and maliciously intended to tarnish the reputation of both the bank and its MD/CEO, as well as to mislead the investment community and the general public.
Signed by the bank’s Divisional Head of Brand and Communications, Dr Meksley Nwagboh, the statement clarified that Fidelity Bank was compelled to respond to the erroneous article published on May 21, 2025.
“As a publicly quoted company regulated by the NGX and subject to the Listing Rules of the NGX and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations, we unequivocally confirm that neither the Bank nor its MD/CEO has ever engaged in insider trading.”
Dr Nwagboh further emphasized that the MD/CEO personally funded the share purchase and did not utilize bank funds or take a loan for the transaction. The statement reaffirmed that the transaction was conducted in strict adherence to the Listing Rules and insider trading regulations governing publicly traded companies.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed all financial institutions to implement real-time transaction alert systems as part of enhanced anti-money laundering (AML) compliance.
The directive was conveyed in a letter dated May 20, 2025, with reference number BSD/DIR/CON/AML/018/033, and titled “Exposure of Draft Baseline Standards for Automated Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Solutions – Request for Comments.”
The letter, signed by Olubukola Akinwunmi, director of banking supervision, was addressed to all financial institutions and outlines the regulatory expectations for modern AML compliance.
The apex bank emphasised that the initiative is part of its broader commitment to safeguarding the integrity and stability of Nigeria’s financial system, especially in the face of rapid digital transformation and the rise of innovative financial products.
The draft standards, which are now open to feedback from stakeholders, are designed to promote operational efficiency and ensure compliance with Anti-Money Laundering, Combating the Financing of Terrorism, and Counter-Proliferation Financing (AML/CFT/CPF) regulations.
“This standard is informed by a comprehensive assessment of existing solutions within the industry and aligns with global best practices, including recommendations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF),” the document stated.
According to the CBN, the draft baseline standards are developed with key objectives in mind.
These include strengthening the AML capabilities of financial institutions through advanced, technology-driven solutions; encouraging the adoption of emerging technologies for real-time detection and reporting of suspicious transactions; reducing the inefficiencies associated with manual compliance processes; and ensuring alignment with evolving regulatory expectations both locally and internationally.
The draft document is available for download on the official website of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and all stakeholders have been encouraged to review and provide feedback.
“We look forward to receiving your valuable feedback,” the letter noted, highlighting the collaborative approach to shaping the final version of the standards.
Among the critical requirements outlined in the draft are real-time alerts for transactions considered high risk.
These include cross-border transactions, excessive cash deposits, cryptocurrency-related dealings, and other activities flagged under existing AML regulations.
The document specifies that the time taken to review and act on such alerts must not exceed a predetermined timeline, reinforcing the need for swift response and decision-making.
The CBN mandates that financial institutions implement transaction monitoring systems capable of supporting multiple risk scenarios.
These systems should use configurable filtration rules and customer segmentation techniques to effectively detect suspicious behavior. Institutions are also required to conduct regular stress testing and system validation exercises to minimise false positives.
“Each institution must define a predetermined threshold for false positives and ensure that the rate remains below this threshold,” the document stated, underlining the importance of maintaining a balance between alert sensitivity and accuracy.
The draft also mandates that AML solutions incorporate artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) capabilities.
These technologies should support anomaly detection, behavioral pattern recognition, automated risk scoring, and adaptive learning based on insights from previously flagged alerts and their resolutions.
The aim is to ensure that the systems not only detect suspicious activity but also evolve over time to become more efficient and accurate.
Real-time access to Customer Due Diligence (CDD), Know Your Customer (KYC), and Know Your Customer’s Business (KYB) data is another essential feature prescribed in the draft standards.
Financial institutions are expected to automate customer onboarding processes with real-time identification and verification in line with existing AML/CFT/CPF regulations.
This includes integration with Bank Verification Number (BVN) and National Identification Number (NIN) databases to ensure instant verification.
Moreover, the draft outlines the need for comprehensive KYC and KYB functionalities.
These must include automated customer risk profiling, transaction behaviour analysis, historical data tracking, and the inclusion of various risk factors derived from money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing risk assessments and typologies.
The solutions must also enable continuous classification of customers into risk categories to facilitate more targeted and effective risk management.
The Central Bank’s move to expose the draft for industry-wide input reflects its intention to build a robust, technologically advanced AML compliance culture across Nigerian financial institutions.
It signals a significant step towards enhancing transparency, operational efficiency, and international alignment in Nigeria’s financial regulatory environment.
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