Central Bank of Nigeria is set to clampdown on illegal Point of Sales operators in the country.

The National President, Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria, Victor Olojo, has said the Central Bank of Nigeria is set to clampdown on illegal Point of Sales operators in the country.

In an interview with Sunday PUNCH, he said the apex bank was planning to sanitise the industry, considering its role in driving its cashless policy. He explained that agents operating under umbrellas and hawking PoS services would be the most hit.

He said, “Agents must wake up, there are rules. Agents operating under an umbrella, agents hawking PoS services, all these things would soon be curtailed. The CBN is coming with a sledgehammer very soon on agents operating outside its guidelines.

“Some of these agents are not properly registered; the minimum accepted is a kiosk, an identifiable address.”

He noted that there must be confidentiality regarding cash withdrawals and the agents must ensure their clients can carry out transactions in enclosed spaces.

2023 is expected to witness growth in PoS transactions. According to the CBN’s policy limiting withdrawals for individuals and corporates, “Customers should be encouraged to use alternative channels (Internet banking, mobile banking apps, USSD, cards/PoS, eNaira, etc.) to conduct their banking transactions.”

Commenting on this expected growth, Olojo, said, “For now, the industry is still on an upward growth. We are still growing upwardly, there is still room for a lot of growth.