Opay, Kuda Bank, Moniepoint, and Palmpay have all paused opening of new accounts, sequel a directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) during the week that ended 27 April 2024.
This follows the earlier blocking of 1,146 bank accounts involved in unauthorised forex dealings on Wednesday 24 April 2024 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Analysis of the blocked accounts indicates that only 10% are with fintechs while 90% are commercial bank accounts.
An attempt by NaijaphiliaBlog on 30 April 2024 to open a new account with Opay, after downloading the App, returned the message in the screenshot below:
It was also not possible to open new accounts on any of the other affected fintech Apps.
However, we observed that customer deposits and other banking activities are running normally.
In recent months, fintechs have faced increasing scrutiny over their account opening processes. November 2023, the CBN implemented new Know-Your-Customer (KYC) rules for all financial institutions that seemed to target fintechs.
The current directive to pause account opening is linked to ongoing audit of KYC processes of the fintechs, according to one executive at one of the fintechs, who also described the pause as “temporary.”
Naija Philia! 
Leave a comment