The recent 2025 Agent Banking Guidelines, which limit Point Of Sale (PoS) agents to operating with one principal bank or fintech, do not affect businesses and merchants using PoS terminals for financial transactions, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has clarified.
A credible CBN source, responding to LEADERSHIP enquiry, said: “Exclusivity requirements in the regulations apply to agents, not merchants, so the status quo remains.
The apex bank then disclosed that the CBN is aware of the unprofessional act of some operators reclassifying agents as merchants, warning that severe sanctions will be imposed on those found culpable.
“However, we are aware that some operators are reclassifying agents as merchants to allow them to subvert the requirement. Oversight is ongoing to identify such, “CBN disclosed.
This is because experts and business owners applauded this gesture, as businesses can continue to utilise several fintech banking platforms for their businesses as usual.
This contradicts the earlier misinterpretation of the Agent Banking Guidelines, where most Nigerians believed the restrictions applied to every stratum of PoS terminal users.
However, the apex bank’s clarifications imply that these guidelines are a regulatory refinement, not an indictment of Fintech Banks, such as Opay, Moniepoint, PalmPay, among others.
LEADERSHIP investigations revealed that the core of the confusion lies in the inability of some people to understand the distinction made by the CBN between ‘registered agents’ and ‘regular merchants’. The new policy mandates exclusivity for agents, requiring them to operate under one principal bank or fintech.
However, analysts have described the move as being designed to strengthen oversight and accountability within the agent banking ecosystem.
Crucially, this rule does not apply to the average business owner. Merchants, retailers, and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across Nigeria retain the freedom to use multiple Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals from different providers, including OPay, Moniepoint, and Palmpay, for business convenience.
The apex bank added that merchants can continue using multiple POS terminals from different providers, stating that any claim that merchants can use only one POS from a single bank is false and misleading.
Amidst the misinterpretations and rumours, experts said, the monumental contributions of fintech payment banks to Nigeria’s digital economy are pivotal and swift.
Responding to this development, a branch manager of a popular petroleum marketer, who spoke to LEADERSHIP anonymously because he wasn’t authorised to do so, noted that he was apprehensive earlier, hearing the misconceptions that these issues affect every business because his filling stations use three or more fintech banks’ PoS machines and have been helpful to his business operations.
“We have three central fintech banks we use, which are: OPay, Moniepoint and PalmPay. Each of them has its strengths and weaknesses. Still, by using the three together, we can satisfy our customers swiftly, especially during service downtime, as the three banks wouldn’t experience this issue simultaneously. This saves us a lot.
“To then restrict it to one fintech bank would have been disastrous because it then subjected us to an operator which isn’t fair enough, especially when there are other competitors, ” he pointed out.
Similarly, Jide Adeyemi, who owns a large pharmacy in the Ifo local government area of Ogun State and has three other branches within the state, was elated when our crew notified him that businesses like his are exempt from this development.
“I have been thinking of how to go about this development, until now, because I have had PoS machines from two frontline fintech banks, and they have been helpful. I was thinking of adding one more fintech bank so we can maximise their use.
“It won’t, however, make sense to suspend a system that has been working for us, even though we believe the PoS space should be sanitised, but not at the detriment of suffocating businesses who have been enjoying this service,” he noted.
Some merchants who spoke to LEADERSHIP weren’t aware of the new guidelines, while those who were aware thought it would affect them, as they had gone with the earlier misconceptions; hence, they called on CBN and fintech banks to increase awareness in this regard in a move to deepen financial inclusion in the country.
Earlier, OPay stated that it had demonstrated not only legitimacy but also leadership, directly supporting the CBN’s core objectives of financial inclusion and a cashless society; hence, it serves as a benchmark for the fintech firm’s Impact and Innovation in the Nigerian digital economy space.
While its entry into the Nigerian market, as witnessed, has engineered a seismic shift in how Nigerians access financial services. It noted that strategic focus on solving grassroots challenges has yielded tangible results.
Moreover, PalmPay, Moniepoint, among others, have also claimed that they are instrumental in deepening financial inclusion in the country, adding that they have successfully banked the unbanked, bringing millions of Nigerians in both urban and rural areas into the formal financial system.
According to experts, it is no doubt that fintech firms have created a massive ecosystem of entrepreneurship, empowering thousands of agents who operate mini-banking outlets, which has led to the generation of employment and stimulated local economic activity at an unprecedented scale.
The licensing and regulation of Fintech firms by the CBN, they pointed out, demonstrate how it has become a mainstay in digital financial inclusion and Nigeria’s economic space, solving Nigerian problems through innovative approaches.
Hence, the CBN’s clarification serves to douse unnecessary tensions and reaffirms the critical role of licensed fintech payment banks, they stressed.
Meanwhile, analysts have opined that Government policies will continue to foster an environment that supports the responsible growth of fintech firms across the country, benefiting all Nigerians.
In an interview he granted to a newspaper outfit (not LEADERSHIP), the national president of the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents of Nigeria, Fasasi Sharafadeen, said the recently released guidelines by the apex bank could cripple small-scale businesses and threaten the country’s financial inclusion efforts.
According to Sharafadeen, one of the most worrying aspects of the policy is the introduction of exclusivity, which restricts agents from operating under only one principal or service provider.
He explained that this move would not only reduce the income of PoS agents but also drive many out of business due to the loss of flexibility and customer trust that currently defines agency banking operations.
“About 40 per cent of PoS operators will be out of business. Today, there are over 3 million PoS terminals in circulation, and about two million active agents. Many of these agents operate multiple terminals from different service providers to ensure efficiency and customer satisfaction. The new exclusivity rule will destroy that balance,” he said.
He added that PoS operators usually relied on multiple platforms to ensure steady transactions when one network fails.
On his part, national chairman of the Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN), Boniface Okezie, frowned at the CBN for what he described as regulatory overreach, adding that the apex bank should focus on its primary duties instead of micromanaging small businesses.
“Why should the CBN get itself involved in mundane things? They should give guidelines, not over-regulate. The CBN is primarily concerned with taxation and regulation. Who regulates the CBN itself? They should focus on fixing the quality of currency in circulation and ensuring banks dispense clean notes,” he noted.