CEM REPORT, FINANCE | The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has debunked a message gone viral about the suspension of two Fintech companies; Opay and Palmpay.
Acting Director of Corporate Communications of the Apax bank, Isa AbdulMumin, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Abuja that the viral news “is simply fake’’.
The viral news credited to Mr AbdulMumin stated that the CBN was about to suspend accounts of the Fintech companies because they were being used to perpetrate fraud.
“Please if you are using OPAY, PALMPAY or any of these CHINA APPs or their POS, stop keeping much money in the account or stop using it.
“The CBN is about suspending their accounts because these apps are being used to perpetrate fraud,’’ the viral news read in parts.
OPAY and PALMPAY had in separate social media messages denied being under the radar of the CBN.
OPAY had stated that: “the post mentioning the CBN shutting down our operations is false and misleading to the general public.’’
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PALMPAY also posted a similar disclaimer, saying: “we are aware of news currently being spread on social media about CBN shutting down the operations of PALMPAY.
“Please ignore all such misleading news of this nature,’’ it stated.
OPay Digital Services Limited is a company founded by Opera Norway AS Group with footprints in emerging markets across Asia, Africa and Latin America in countries like Mexico, Nigeria, Egypt and Pakistan. The company started operation in Nigeria 2002
According to the information on the company’s OPay currently has over over 18 million registered app users and 500,000 agents in Nigeria who rely on OPay’s services to send and receive money, pay bills and many more.
Palmpay on the other hand, is a U.K.-headquartered venture that was also founded with Chinese seed investment. It launched in Nigeria and Ghana in 2019 and have provided over 5 million customers with convenient and affordable digital payments.
OPAY and PALMPAY are licensed under the CBN mobile payment regulatory framework.