By Elizabeth Adegbesan

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has issued a Supervisory Framework for Payment Service Banks  (PSBs) in the country.

In the framework released yesterday, CBN said that the PSBs, among other things, must  operate mostly in the rural areas and unbanked locations targeting financially excluded persons, with not less than 25 percent financial service touch points in such rural areas.

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According to the framework, PSBs  shall be required to render monthly returns  indicating the number of financially excluded/unbanked customers on-boarded during the month to which the returns relate and the number of access points deployed in the month, as well as active access points and the cumulative access points deployed in other to ensure monitoring and evaluation.

On permissible activities CBN stated: “PSBs shall  accept deposits from individuals and small businesses, which shall be covered  by the deposit insurance scheme; Carry out payments and remittances (including inbound cross-border personal  remittances) services through various channels within Nigeria; Sale of foreign currencies realized from inbound cross-border personal  remittances to authorized foreign exchange dealers.

“Comply with provisions of the extant Foreign Exchange Regulations of the CBN; issue debit and pre-paid cards on its name; operate electronic wallet; render financial advisory services;  invest in FGN and CBN securities; and  carry out such other activities as may be prescribed by the CBN from time to  time.”  

On non-permissible activities, the apex bank said: “PSBs shall not grant any form of loans, advances and guarantees (directly or indirectly).  They may lend to their employees in line with their employee loan policy,  subject to the approval of their Board. 

They shall not accept foreign currency deposits;  deal in the foreign exchange market except as prescribed; insurance underwriting; undertake any other transaction which is not prescribed by this Guidelines;  accept any closed scheme electronic value (e.g. airtime) as a form deposit or  payment; establish any subsidiary except as prescribed in the CBN Regulation on the Scope of Banking and Ancillary Matters, No 3, 2010.”

To ensure strict compliance with extant regulations, the framework stated that appropriate financial and  administrative sanctions shall be imposed on erring PSBs  and/or their principal officers, as provided for in relevant laws, regulations and guidelines.