The microfinance licenses of Eyowo, one of Nigeria’s digital banks, have been revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The bank’s licence was revoked along with the licences of 46 other microfinance institutions.
The 47 microfinance banks’ licences, according to the apex bank, were withdrawn because they were inactive, insolvent, failed to submit returns, shut down, or stopped conducting banking business as they were licensed for longer than six months.
CBN accused the banks of violating the revised regulatory and supervisory guidelines for microfinance banks in Nigeria and the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA), 2020.
The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, announced the cancellation of the companies’ licences in a notification posted on its website on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Eyowo customers have expressed concern over their inability to make transactions. However, Eyowo, on Wednesday, said no cause for alarm, pledging “we remain committed to ensuring the security of your money and apologise for any inconveniences that you will experience in this period.”
“Regarding the CBN directive, we are actively working with the Central Bank of Nigeria to resolve all pending issues and put our users at ease,” Eyowo said in a statement via Twitter.
It added, “To our users, rest assured that the CBN directive has no immediate impact on the safety of your money, nor is it connected in any way to the planned service improvements and ongoing onboarding freeze we announced.”