Regulatory Alerts2008-12-18 | TED-FEM-FPC-GEN-01-134-08Circular to all Banks and International Money Transfer Operators in Nigeria
This Nigerian banking circular from December 17, 2008 highlights new safety measures for international money transfers. It emphasizes that operators and agent banks must enforce additional safeguards such as collecting funds only in designated locations, introducing a secondary pin/code for confirmation, and ensuring customers are informed of the processes. Failure to follow these guidelines will result in liability and possible refunds if wrongful payments occur. This circular supersedes an earlier one from October 10, 2008.
09 - 61636401 09 - 61636418 BSD/DO/CIR/GEN/V.2/012 December 17, 2008 CIRCULAR TO ALL BANKS AND INTERNATIONAL MONEY TRANSFER OPERATORS IN NIGERIA Given the absence of a fool-proof means of personal identification and the need to ensure that money transfer operations in Nigeria are carried out in a transparent and safe manner, all International Money Transfer operators and their agent banks are required to put in place the following additional safeguards and communicate these to their customers: -
- Funds transferred shall only be collected in the designated town for payment and nowhere else, 2. All the money transfer operators in Nigeria should introduce a second level pin/code to be provided by the beneficiaries after confirming the availability of their transactions/funds before payment could be made, 3. All the money transfer operators should ensure adequate information dissemination to enlighten the customers and the beneficiaries of the services, and 4. Banks shall investigate customers' complaints within the shortest possible time before referring the beneficiary to the sender for onward complaint to the money transfer operator.
In cases where these safeguards are not strictly applied, banks will be held liable and shall be made to refund any amount paid to wrong beneficiaries. This circular supersedes the earlier circular No.BSD/DO/CIR/GEN/V.2/011 Dated October 10, 2008. D.A.N. EKE Ag. DIRECTOR BANKING SUPERVISION DEPARTMENT