CBN To Sanction Licensed Super Agents Over Hike in PoS Charges by Operators
- CBN to Sanction Airtel, Other Super Agents Over Hike in PoS Charges by Operators
- CBN to sanction Airtel, other Super Agents over hike in PoS in charges
- The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned Super Agents with PoS licenses over arbitrary price increase
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The apex said it does not regulate the activities of PoS operators but deals with licensed companies with PoS
The bank stated that it had informed the Super Agents that they would be sanctioned if operators hiked charges.
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CBN does not deal with PoS operators directly
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has threatened to sanction Super Agents over the activities of Point of Sale (PoS) operators if they breach the guidelines of their license.
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Acting CBN governor, Folashodun Shonubi, said the bank does not deal directly with PoS operators.
Reports say Shonubi said this at the last CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting (MPC), noting that the apex bank does not directly regulate the activities of the operators.
Shonubi revealed in his statement that CBN has companies it licensed and are Super Agents with PoS.
He said:
“We have regulated prices with super agents, and it’s their responsibility to enforce them. We have informed the super agents of the operators, and where we find agents responsible for actions not in line with their license, we sanction super agents.”
FCCPC issues warning to PoS operators
PoS operators have faced criticisms from the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), accusing them of price fixing rather than allowing market forces to determine the increase.
The agency threatened them with fines and jail terms should they implement any price hike.
FCCPC said:
“The Commission advises PoS operators that violation of an order of the Commission attracts additional consequences apart from the underlying illegal conduct that is the subject of the order, such as up to N10,000,000 for corporate entities; and N1,000,000 and or a prison sentence of up to three months for individuals.”
The operators have been in the news recently over the plan to increase transaction charges as petrol prices increased from N189 per litre to N619.
April 2023, CBN awarded Airtel Mobile Commerce Nigeria Ltd, a subsidiary of Airtel Africa a full super-agent license to operate as an agency network. This was made known in a press announcement by Airtel's company Secretary Simon O'Hara.
The move came after MTN Nigeria obtained Final Approval from the CBN to operate as Payment Service Bank.
The super agent licence is different from the Payment Service Bank (PSB) licence for which MTN received approval in principle on November 4, 2021.
Super agents are businesses that have been licensed by the CBN to recruit agents for agency banking, providing financial services to communities on behalf of banks to increase financial inclusion.
PoS operators barred from implementing price hike, face potential sanctions
Legit.ng earlier reported that Nigeria's Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has banned Point of Sale (PoS) operators from implementing the newly declared hike in charges for PoS transactions.
The declaration follows the recent action by the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN) on behalf of specific PoS operators in establishing standardised prices for various transaction services.
Consequently, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced its intention to intervene in addressing the concerns surrounding the new charges implemented by PoS agents in Nigeria.
Source: Legit.ng
