CBN freezes bank accounts of six fintech platforms for 180 days

A federal high court in Abuja has granted the request of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to freeze accounts of six fintech companies.

The apex bank said it is investigating “illegal foreign exchange trading” by the fintech companies. It sought the court injunction to freeze their account details for 180 days pending the completion of investigations.

The accounts include Rise Vest Technologies Limited, Bamboo Systems Technology Limited, Bamboo Systems Technology Limited OPNS, Chaka Technologies Limited, CTL/Business Expenses, and Trove Technologies Limited.

The CBN alleged that Rise Vest Technologies Limited, Bamboo Systems Technology Limited, Chaka Technologies Limited and Trove Technologies Limited were complicit in operating without license as asset management companies “and utilizing FX sourced from the Nigerian FX market for purchasing foreign bonds/shares in contravention of the CBN circular referenced TED/FEM/FPC/GEN/01/012, dated July 01, 2015.”

The apex bank through its counsel, Chief Micheal Kaase Aondoakaa, SAN, claimed the investment companies were playing a part in making the Naira weaker to the United States dollars, because of the foreign exchange deals carried out on their platforms. There was therefore the need to block the accounts of these companies for about 180 days.

Aondoakaa told the judge on Tuesday that the CBN was worried about how monies were going out of the country.

According to an affidavit filed by a Senior Supervisor of the CBN, Christiana Gyang, the apex bank had reviewed the activities of these platforms to determine their alleged involvement in illegal foreign exchange (FX) dealings.

She stated that the investigation showed that the platforms were violating Nigeria’s trading laws.