The Senate yesterday passed for the second reading a bill seeking to amend the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) to empower the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to designate and supervise systemically important non-bank financial institutions.

The focus is on major fintech operators whose activities now constitute critical national infrastructure.

The Assembly is working on the bill in line with its resolve to regulate online financial transactions or Fintechs that run into millions of dollars and billions of naira daily.

Some Fintech companies operating in Nigeria are 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 CBN for banking operations.

The Senate noted 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.