The following government authorities regulate fintech activities of fintech companies, depending on the services provided;
- the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN);
- the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (Nigerian SEC); - the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE);
- the Corporate Affairs Commission; and
- the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

The apex financial regulatory bodies – the CBN and the Nigerian Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) – have taken steps to include fin-tech in the existing laws evidenced by the provisions of recently proposed bills such as: the Companies and Allied Matters Bill; the Proposed Regulatory Framework for Crowdfunding Activities by the Nigerian SEC; - the Proposed Electronic Transactions Bill; and the Payment Systems Management Bill.
The aims of these bills are to promote e-commerce in Nigeria and consolidate the regulation of electronic payments.

WHAT FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES REQUIRE REGULATION IN NIGERIA?
A banking licence must be obtained from the CBN before a fintech company can engage in lending operations.
Under the Guidelines for the Operation of International Money Transfer Services in Nigeria 2014, international money transfer operators must obtain licences from the CBN before engaging in money transfer services or otherwise face penalties. Furthermore, under the CBN Guidelines on International Mobile Money Remittance Service in Nigeria 2015, foreign international money transfer operators that wish to operate in Nigeria must apply to the CBN for a licence and evidence that they possess a licence in their home country. In addition to the CBN guidelines, payment services involving mobile telephone infrastructure are regulated under the NCC Licence Framework for Value Added Service. Under this framework, mobile payment service providers must obtain a five-year renewable licence from the NCC. More importantly, the general provisions of the law in relation to the registration and incorporation of businesses and companies must be complied with if the business intends to take full advantage of the law in Nigeria. Where a foreign entity intends to supply fintech products in Nigeria, it must comply with certain requirements in addition to incorporating a company, such as obtaining a business permit and expatriate quota from the Federal Ministry of Interior.
Technology transfer agreements between foreign companies and fintech entities in Nigeria must also be registered with the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP).

CONSUMER LENDING
Consumer lending is generally regulated by the Banking and Other Financial Institutions Act, the CBN Act and various CBN published guidelines. These laws may restrict the interest rates that fintech companies can charge. For example, fintech companies must comply with:
- the regulatory capital requirements (their capital to risk weighted assets ratio must be at least 12.5%);
- limits on the value of loans that can be granted to any person (20% of the finance company’s shareholders’ funds unimpaired by losses); and
- limits on the amounts that can be borrowed.

COLLECTIVE INVESTMENT SCHEMES
The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rules primarily regulate collective investment schemes, which apply to fintech companies engaged in collective investment schemes. Entities that wish to provide alternative finance products must satisfy the SEC rules. One such rule is that a fintech company’s securities must be registered.

PEER TO PEER AND MARKETPLACE FUNDING
Peer-to-peer lending is in its developmental stage in Nigeria, although it has existed informally for years. Pursuant to the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, entities which wish to provide marketplace lending must register as a bank or other financial institution. Further, the moneylender laws of various Nigerian states regulate peer-to-peer and marketplace lending. Fintech companies which provide lending platforms must comply with the requirements of the law, including obtaining a licence under the law of the state in which they operate.

CROWDFUNDING
As Nigeria has not fully embraced the concept of crowd-funding, there is no existing regulation on crowdfunding especially compared with other jurisdictions. On 15 August 2016 the Nigerian SEC stated that all crowdfunding activities in Nigeria should be suspended until specific and comprehensive regulations on the subject are established. This is because Nigerian law does not contemplate crowdfunding activities and actually imposes restrictions on inviting the public to subscribe to shares or securities of a company or person, unless it is a public company and the requisite Nigerian SEC approvals have been obtained. Although there are no regulations or
laws in place for reward and equity-based crowdfunding in Nigeria, regulatory amendments to permit equity crowdfunding are underway.

PAYMENT SERVICES
Payment services are regulated by the CBN through its guidelines and the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act. The CBN’s Guidelines on Operations of Electronic Payment Channels in Nigeria 2016 provide minimum standards and requirements for the operation of point-of-sale card acceptance services. Stakeholders include: merchant acquirers; card issuers; merchants; cardholders; card schemes; switches; payments terminal service aggregators (PTSAs); and payments terminal service providers (PTSPs). The guidelines on e-payments also specify requirements for the deployment of cashpoints, including that no issuer or acquirer can make a transfer outside the country if: the transaction would take place via a cashpoint or any acceptance device in Nigeria; and the issuer is a Nigerian bank or any other issuer licensed by the CBN. Other guidelines and regulations issued by the CBN include: the CBN Guidelines on Mobile Money Services in Nigeria 2015; the CBN Regulation for Bill Payments in Nigeria 2018; the CBN Regulatory Framework for the Use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data for Financial Services in Nigeria 2018; the CBN Regulation for Direct Debit Scheme in Nigeria 2018; the CBN Guidelines on International Money Transfer Services in Nigeria 2014; and the CBN draft Risk-Based Cybersecurity Framework and Guidelines for Deposit Money Banks and Payment Service Providers 2018. New laws are also in the process of being enacted, including the Payment Systems Management Bill.

OPEN BANKING
Several laws and regulations that promote competition and protect consumer data apply to the Nigerian fintech industry, including:
the Treaty on the UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection, which has been domesticated by the Nigerian government; the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection (FCCP) Act 2019, which established the FCCP Commission and charged it with the responsibility of protecting consumers by taking both preventive and remedial measures regarding consumer products and services; the CBN Consumer Protection Framework 2016, which applies to various types of financial institution under the regulatory purview of the CBN, including fintech entities; the Release of Consumer Protection Framework for Banks and Other Financial Institutions issued by the CBN; and the National Information and Technology Development Agency Act. The CBN restricts financial institutions from divulging customer information and data to third parties and ensures the protection of such information from unauthorised access by third parties, except where a bank must disclose the information by law or a customer consents to the disclosure.

CREDIT REFERENCES
There are no restrictions on providing credit references in Nigeria. Credit bureaus must be registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission and licensed by the CBN to carry on business. Pursuant to the CBN Regulatory Guidelines for the Licensing, Operations and Regulation of Credit Bureaus in Nigeria, lending institutions must have a permissible purpose to access any credit information from credit bureaus.