Banks Don’t Require Licences for Agency Banking, Says CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that banks do not need licences to operate agency banking.

This was made known by CBN Head, Financial Inclusion, Temitope Akin-Fadeyi, at the second edition of the Ciuci Consulting’s Nigeria Retail Banking Workshop, which had discussions on catalysing SME funding and retail lending to Nigeria’s economic development.

Akin-Fadeyi clarified that retail banks only needed approval from CBN to perform agency banking.

She added that, super agents, on the other hand, go through stringent measures to obtain agency banking licence, showing how regulation supports retail banks in their push for financial inclusion.

The workshop was an opportunity for bank executives to discuss their challenges with agency banking, especially its difficult licensing process.

The CBN, at the workshop, also shared some exciting news- the creation of a joint technical task force with NCC. The objective of the joint task force, according to Akin-Fadeyi, is to deepen mobile financial services in Nigeria leveraging Telcos and Retail Banking Collaboration. “Issues such as SIM swap, connectivity and network coverage, are now jointly being tackled by the banking sector for increased gains to the industry,” she said.

Other speakers at the workshop were GM, EFInA, Linda Quaynor; Director, Consumer Banking, UBA, Feyi Ogoji; Group Head, Retail, and SME Banking, Unity Bank, Funwa Akinmade; Divisional CEO, InterswitchNG, Akeem Lawal; and Managing Partner, Ciuci Consulting, Chukwuka Monye.