The Central Bank of Nigeria CBN today issued operational guidelines for Open Banking in Nigeria. The guidelines, signed by the CBN Director of Payment System Management Department, Musa I. Jimoh is meant to help promote the adoption of Open Banking in Nigeria.
According to the CBN in this guideline, “Open Banking will foster the sharing of customers’ permissioned data among banks and third-party firms to enable the building of customer-focused products and services. It is also aimed at enhancing efficiency, competition and access to financial services in Nigeria”
What is Open Banking
Open banking is the practice of enabling secure interoperability in the banking industry by allowing third-party payment services and other financial service providers to access banking transactions and other data from banks and financial institutions.
It is a term used to describe a set of technologies and standards, which allows consumers to safely and securely share their account information, for example through apps and websites. It allows customers to view various bank accounts as well as loans, mortgages, and credit cards, in one place.
Meanwhile, it has been a week since the Supreme Court extends the validity of the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes as legal tender in Nigeria till December 31st 2023. but skepticism remains among Nigerian regarding whether the old Naira notes are still legal tender or not. Most Nigerians were waiting for the official announcement of either the president or the CBN governor on the Supreme Court judgment. The scepticism was expressed in our earlier article on the subject matter
Development on the Naira redesign policy
Since the Supreme Court delivered the judgment on the case brought before it by the 16 state governors and extended the validity of the old Naira note to December 31st, 2023, the CBN is yet to make any official announcement on the matter.
Although there had been reports of bank branches dispensing the old Naira notes from their ATMs and across the counter to customers. The skepticism on the legal tender status of the old N500 and N1,000 notes lingers in the markets as most traders are still rejecting same because according to them, the CBN and the president that announced that the notes cease to be legal tender are yet to make any further announcement countering their earlier broadcast.
