Central Bank of Nigeria unveils open banking guidelines – Africa
The Central Bank of Nigeria recently said it has issued operational guidelines for open banking in Nigeria, which are expected to improve efficiency and access to financial services. According to the central bank, one of the goals of the guidelines is to ensure “consistency and security throughout the open banking system”.
Customer Approved Data Sharing
The Central Bank of Nigeria announced on March 7 that it had issued the so-called Operational Guidelines for Open Banking in Nigeria. According to the central bank, the guidelines are intended to “promote the exchange of customer-approved data between banks and third-party companies in order to enable the development of customer-oriented products and services”. The guidelines aim to improve efficiency and access to financial services.
In a circular to financial institutions and payment service providers, CBN said it was aware of the “existence of an Application Programming Interface (API) in the financial and payment system”. It added that it was also aware of plans to “develop acceptable standards among stakeholders”.
According to CBN, one of the goals of the guidelines is to ensure “consistency and security throughout the open banking system”. The central bank said it also hopes the guidelines, developed in collaboration with industry stakeholders, will encourage competition and improve access to financial institutions.
Open bank register
At the outset, CBN said it would deploy and maintain an Open Banking Registry (OBR) to act as the industry warehouse.
“The OBR is intended to be a public repository for details of registered participants. Each competitor is identified by their CAC [Corporate Affairs Commission] Company Registration Number, which is intended to be the unique key throughout the OBR system. The OBR must maintain an API interface defined in these guidelines, which is intended to serve as the primary means by which API providers manage the registration of their API consumers,” the CBN explained.
Meanwhile, the CBN said in its circular that all stakeholders have a duty to ensure “strict compliance” with the guidelines, as well as other regulations. For its part, the central bank said it would continue to monitor developments and “issue guidance as appropriate”.
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Source: Crypto News Deutsch
