Financial technology (Fintech) players have condemned the enforcement of CAC registration on POS terminal operators in the country, saying the act is a fraudulent strategy to rip the operators off their hard earned revenue. According to the industry players under the umbrella of the Association of Telecommunications, Information Technology, Cable Satellite Network Operators and Allied Services Employers of Nigeria (ATICEN), mandating the terminal operators to get CAC certificate is a double standard after their fintech firms have already registered with CAC and CBN.
The Federal Government had mandated Point of Sale (POS) operators to register their businesses with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). This directive, according to the government, aims to formalise the growing POS sector, enhance regulation, and curb financial crimes, such as fraud and money laundering, associated with the unregulated use of POS terminals.
Operators are also expected to comply with other regulatory requirements, including tax registration and adhering to guidelines set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). In a chat with New Telgraph, the ATICEN President, Comrade Adede John-Williams, said the policy should be repealed as it makes no positive impact on the sector. He explained that each fintech company had already registered with CAC and that the registration covererd all their POS terminals everywhere it is used.
He said mandating the terminal operators to re-register with CAC was a double registration which should not be allowed. “What is the essence of the registration the fintechs have done with the CAC and CBN? Their registration covers all their terminals everywhere across the country. Forcing the operators to register again is a fraudulent act. First, the operators do not have the control over the technology used for the terminal, the company may halt the terminal, the company may collect the terminal back from the operators, why should the operators register the terminal with CAC?
“Sometimes we ask ourselves question, do these regulatory officers knows what they are saying? Let me emphasise right here on this platform, and let the CAC understand that it will be wrong for the commission to start going after the POS operators. Every POS operator is licensed by CAC and CBN. Most of the big companies that are giving out the POS have CAC licence, they obtain the CBN licence as well.
So, where is CAC coming from because the licences that CBN and CAC give fintech companies that own the POS terminals give them the latitude to deploy all over the country. “I challenge CAC to take statistics of what the POS operators are doing in terms of how many? What is the percentage of those fintech who do not have license,” he said. He substantiated the reason for the Federal Government to create a separate regulatory body for the fintech, saying the body would remove the challenges associated with the sector.
“It’s very important for us to have a regulatory body that has to manage the fintech subsector of ICT industry. The reason is that when you have a such regulatory body on ground, the think tank, the stakeholders, the people that have technical knowhow – the capacity, managerial capacity, will come together and bring in different views about the industry, diagnose the challenges, find out what is happening and all and come up with a blueprint, a legal framework, that can propel and manage the fintech environment.”
THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN NEW TELEGRAPH
