A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has mandated commercial banks in the country to unfreeze the account of one of the fintech companies operating in Nigeria-RiseVest Technologies Limited. The order is coming two months after all bank accounts linked to the company and three others (Bamboo Systems Technology Limited, Chaka Technologies Limited and Trove Technologies Limited) were freezed by the apex banking authority in the country, CBN.
Recall that the CBN further clarified that it had obtained a federal high court order to freeze the accounts of the aforementioned fintech companies for a period of 180 days. By the virtue of this development, the affected fintech companies will be unable to accept new deposits.

Rationalizing the harsh move, the CBN accused RiseVest and other affected firms of using forex obtained from the Nigerian FX market in buying foreign bonds/shares and other assets, an action that is clearly against the statutory provisions of the CBN.

Consequently, RiseVest engaged the CBN, in a bid to thrash out the contentious issues and return back to business. Owing to its engagements and wider consultations, the fintech company in a mail to naijabusiness.com.ng confirmed that the issues have been amicably resolved and that a federal high court in Abuja had ordered for its accounts to be unfreezed.

READ: Why CBN suspended the account of Bamboo, RiseVest and other fintech companies

Excerpts of the mail sent by the firm to naijabusiness.com.ng read thus: ‘’In a positive and very welcome development, the Abuja Federal High Court has unfrozen our bank accounts. According to them we now have ’’unfettered access’’ to our accounts.

‘’We have been engaging with CBN to make sure that all the issues raised in the initial announcement and all relevant issues around our business are properly resolved and that we continue to do our work in a safe, compliant and beneficial way. So this news pleases us greatly. We’ll continue to work with them and all regulators to ensure that our operations stay on the right side of the law.

‘’During this time, users have been funding and withdrawing as normal and all our services have continued to run. Also, our US operations continue unhindered.

‘’We thank everyone especially our amazing users, investors and community for their counsel, encouragement and support. Our mission to connect our users to the best wealth opportunities locally and globally continues and we are excited to continue that journey with you all.’’

SOURCE: https://www.naijabusiness.com.ng/news/2021/breaking-federal-high-court-orders-banks-to-unfreeze-account-of-risevest-technologies/

Tor

I wish the FG can tackle the issue in the power sector the way the CBN is tackling Risevest