A bill for an Act to Amend the Banking and Other Financial Institutions Act to Provide for the Designation, Registration and Enhanced Supervision of Systemically Important Institutions; and for Related Matters, 2025, on Thursday passed second reading in Senate.
The apex legislative Assembly is working on the bill in line with its resolve to regulate online financial transactions or Fintechs in the country that run into millions of dollars and billions of naira on a daily basis.
Some Fintech companies operating in Nigeria include Paga, Opay, MoniePoint, Kuda, PayStack, FairMoney, PalmPay and PiggyVest.
The country currently has no comprehensive law directly regulating Fintech operations outside the general guidelines issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for banking operations.
The Senate noted on Thursday that in the absence of such a law, holding the Fintechs or technology-driven operators accountable in the event of breaches or meltdown might be difficult, while also exposing the investments of Nigerians to risks.
Accordingly, the Senate proposed to amend the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BoFIA) to accommodate the regulation of the operations of Fintechs and other online financial transactions.
The amendment bill, which is titled, “Bill for an Act to Amend the Banking and Other Financial Institutions Act to Provide for the Designation, Registration and Enhanced Supervision of Systemically Important Institutions; and for Related Matters, 2025”, is being sponsored by Senator Abiru Mukhail Adetokumbo (APC, Lagos-East).
Leading the debate on the general principles of the bill, Adetokumbo said that a comprehensive legal framework would enhance tracking, accountability and safety of operations and investments.
Adetokumbo, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, further explained that Nigeria also stood to benefit from appropriate revenue assessment of the operations of the Fintech firms.
He said: “The bill seeks to amend the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act to establish a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework for the supervision and oversight of institutions operating within the financial system and providing technology-enabled financial services.
He informed his colleagues that at best, what the CBN could do at the moment was to issue guidelines for operations, which did not carry the same force as a comprehensive law.
Adetokumbo added, “While the Central Bank currently supervises fintechs through guidelines, licence conditions, and subsidiary regulations, there is no unified statutory architecture built specifically to address the realities of AI-driven financial services, real time cross-border data processing, remote cloud operations, and foreign-controlled digital infrastructure.”
In his contribution, the former President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Senator Adams Oshiomhole, shared the experience of how his accounts were once hacked, disclosing that the hackers accessed him through one of the Fintech banks.
Oshiomhole also said the identities of most of the key owners of online operators were not known and might not be held accountable for infractions since there was no law binding them to any commitments, saying: “I know the directors of our regular banks, but I can’t say the same of these Fintech banks. I don’t know the directors of MoniePoint, Opay and all others”, he said.
He further argued that when properly regulated through an enabling law, the operations of online financial institutions would better serve the interest of Nigerians.
Also contributing to the debate, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduagham, noted the discrepancies in revenue earnings by Nigerians and citizens of nations who use social media to disseminate content through pay per view.
She stated that content creators in Nigeria using Facebook, were paid less than their counterparts in the United States because the latter enjoyed proper regulation.
Senators unanimously passed the bill for second reading and referred it to its Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions for more legislative work.
