In a significant turn of events, Nigerian fintech company, Eyowo, has announced the reinstatement of its full and final licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This is a notable milestone for the company, which has recently faced substantial challenges.
Today, CEO, Yomi Adedeji took to X to share the news of the licence reinstatement, expressing gratitude and optimism for the future.
“Just to let you guys know that we have our full and final licence back for Eyowo from the Central Bank of Nigeria. We will share details over the next few weeks. Impossible is nothing! Thank you and 🥂 to it for us this weekend 😉,” the tweet read, signalling a celebratory mood within the organisation.
Eyowo’s reinstatement marks a critical juncture and enables Eyowo to continue offering its suite of products, which includes digital banking, payment solutions, and financial management tools tailored to meet the needs of individuals and businesses.
In 2023, Eyowo encountered severe setbacks that jeopardised its operations and raised concerns among its users and industry stakeholders. The issues include a report of shutting down, which the company clarified in a statement.
The company claimed it is not shutting down, rather, it is pivoting into a financial technology platform that provides “financial connectedness and intelligence for everyday money and living choices to everyone with a smartphone.”
Before that, the CBN had revoked the licences of Eyo and 46 other microfinance banks. The licences of the 47 microfinance banks were revoked because they had either remained inactive, insolvent, failed to render returns, closed shop, or ceased to carry on the type of banking business for which they were licensed for more than six months.
Earlier in March, Eyowo announced that its Microfinance licence had been restored by the CBN. According to the statement, the reinstatement was done with an approval in principle.
“We have successfully met the requirements laid out by the CBN and have got our licence reinstated with an approval-in-principle. With the basic infrastructure in place and our licence restored, we turned our attention to restructuring our internal operations and connecting our systems,” the statement read.
In that statement, Eyowo said:
“Customers now have access to their funds through our partnership with ProvidusBank as they individually conclude the verification process. We put this process in place to ensure the safety of their funds, prevent fraud and for regulatory compliance.”
Before then, in an X Space, Adedeji, while apologising to the customers for the inconvenience, said the company was close to resolving its issues with the CBN. He, however, declined to indicate when customers could resume activities on their accounts so as not to falsely raise hopes.
“Essentially what I’m trying to say is that we are at the tail end of what we need to do to get ourselves back up. However, our regulators and those who are like our regulators, do not have any complete control over their bureaucratic process, we have no control over the approval process internally. And we can only just wait and follow it through,” he said.
In an email response to Technext, the CEO noted that the company will soon provide more details about its plans and how the reinstated licence will impact its service offerings and strategic direction.
Stakeholders, including customers and investors, are eager to understand how the company intends to address previous shortcomings and enhance its value proposition.