Guardian Nigeria
The Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN) has expressed concerns over the move by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to compel its members, largely Point of Sales (PoS) operators, to register with it by July 7 or face police harassment.
AMMBAN, which has taken legal action on the matter, stressed that the move would stall the growth of the agent banking sub-sector in the country, which is currently valued at N13 trillion.
The National President of AMMBAN, Fasasi Atanda, disclosed this yesterday when he featured on Arise TV Morning Show, saying there were lots of misinformation outside, which needed to be corrected.
He argued that registration is not a means of fighting fraud, saying there are a lot of registered companies that are into all forms of fraud.
According to him, fraud in agency banking is not about CAC registration but about the collective action of the stakeholders, noting that AMMBAN was working with all the security agencies to address the issue.
Fasasi said CAC could not regulate what it doesn’t understand.
Calling on the commission to concentrate on the about 4.9 million registered businesses with it, where almost 50 per cent fail every five years, he said the commission’s priority should be how to ensure the establishment and viability of those businesses not about PoS operations.
According to him, it is not just about PoS but also about an industry – a global agenda on financial inclusion.
“So, you are trying to attack and destroy the streams of financial inclusion in Nigeria. This is offending a lot of stakeholders. CAC needs to understand how the industry operates.
“Most of these fintechs today don’t have branches but leverage sub-agents to deliver services. They are like branches of the banks. So, if it is not correct for a branch of GTB at Egbeda to go and register with the CAC, it is also not correct to ask a sub-agent of MoniePoint or Opay to go and register,” he argued.
He said what the law stated is that, “non-individuals operating under a company name like Adamu Enterprises should be on the books of CAC; it must be legally registered. But if you are Adamu Aliyu, this is an individual. He has nothing…just like asking the Suya Malam to go and register.”
He added that the CAC needed to be challenged on this move to ensure that they don’t go to pepper sellers in future and ask them to come register with it.
