The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has described it as fake, the news making the rounds that it suspended accounts of Fintech companies like OPAY and PALMPAY.
The viral news is “just bogus,” CBN’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Isa AbdulMumin, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday.
The CBN was about to suspend accounts of the Fintech companies because they were being used to commit fraud, according to the viral news article credited to Mr. AbdulMumin.
“Pls stop keeping a lot of money in the account or stop using it if you use OPAY, PALMPAY, or any of these Chinese APPs or their POS.
The viral story stated in part, “The CBN is considering canceling their accounts since these apps are being used to commit fraud.”
In separate social media posts, OPAY and PALMPAY both denied being monitored by the CBN.
The tweet citing the CBN closing down our business, according to OPAY, “is untrue and deceptive to the general public.”
The disclaimer read: “We are aware of the news that is currently being circulated on social media about CBN shuttering the activities of PALMPAY.
Please disregard all such false information of this kind, it urged.
Under the CBN’s regulatory framework for mobile payments, OPAY and PALMPAY have licenses.
To promote financial inclusion, they are to offer mobile money services, such as mobile payment services, to both banked and unbanked individuals.
