CBN Licenses Ten More Money Transfer Operators

The Central Bank of Nigeria has added 10 companies to the list of International Money Transfer Operators licensed in the country.

This was disclosed on Monday in a report, titled ‘Updated list of International Money Transfer Operators in Nigeria as at April 01, 2021’.

In March, the CBN had listed only 47 IMTOs as licensed operators.

While some of the operators had their addresses in Nigeria, others were based outside the country.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, recently said that weekly diaspora remittances rose from $5m to $30.

He noted that the initiatives introduced by the CBN to boost foreign exchange in the country were yielding results.

The apex bank also introduced a rebate of N5 for every $1 of fund remitted to Nigeria through IMTOs in its forex policy.

Emefiele said the CBN introduced the rebate to reduce the cost burden of remitting funds to Nigeria by Nigerians in the diaspora.

He said, “This rebate will be provided to the bank accounts of beneficiaries, following receipt of remittance inflows.

“We believe this new measure will help to make the process of sending remittance through formal bank channels cheaper and more convenient for Nigerians in the diaspora.”

The ‘Naira-4-Dollar Scheme’, which took effect on March 8, 2021, would end on May 8, and banks have notified their customers.