CBN lifts restrictions on 440 companies, individuals’ accounts, including Fintech Giants Bamboo, Rise Vest, and Nairabet
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a directive to banks, instructing them to lift the post-no-debit restriction on the bank accounts of 440 individuals and companies in Nigeria.
Among those whose accounts have been unfrozen are prominent fintech companies like Bamboo, Risevest, and the sports betting company Nairabet.
The circular, signed by A.M. Barau, the Director of Banking Supervision at CBN, was sent to all banks with instructions to inform the affected customers about the decision. Notable fintech companies, Chaka Technologies Limited and Trove Technologies Limited, were also among the entities whose accounts were unfrozen.
Even the popular crypto exchange, Yellow Card Financial, saw the restriction lifted from its account. However, the CBN did not provide any specific reasons for the initial freezing of these accounts or the subsequent decision to lift the restrictions.
The circular read: “You are hereby directed to vacate the Post-No-Debit restriction placed on the accounts of the under-listed bank customers at our instance. You are also required to inform the concerned customers of the vacation accordingly.”
It is worth noting that in August 2021, the CBN had obtained a court order to freeze accounts of some fintech companies for 180 days. The targeted accounts included those belonging to Rise Vest Technologies Limited, Bamboo Systems Technology Limited, Bamboo Systems Technology Limited OPNS, Chaka Technologies Limited, CTL/Business Expenses, and Trove Technologies Limited.
The apex bank had cited an investigation into “illegal foreign exchange transactions” by these fintech companies in the court papers. The investigation focused on alleged infractions and non-documentation related to foreign exchange transactions, which were said to be in violation of existing laws and regulations, particularly the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act and the Central Bank of Nigeria foreign exchange manual.
Earlier in the same year, the CBN had received court orders to freeze 194 bank accounts belonging to firms and Bureaux de Change to conduct investigations into suspicious activities.
For those unfamiliar with the term, a “post-no-debit status” on accounts prevents any transactions involving withdrawals or payments, such as ATM transactions, cheque payments, credit card transactions, and recurring payments. In simpler terms, while these accounts can still receive funds, they are unable to perform any outflow transactions.
As of now, the reasons behind the initial freezing and the subsequent unfreezing of the 440 accounts have not been disclosed by the CBN.
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