By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday made public operational guidelines for open banking in the country, with a caution on stakeholders to ensure strict compliance to the guidelines which seek to promote innovations and broaden the range of financial products and services available to bank customers.
It establishes principles for data sharing across banking and payment systems, the bank says.
The bank’s Director of Payments System Management Department, Musa Jimoh in a statement, highlighted that under the guidelines, the CBN shall provide and maintain an Open Banking Registry to provide regulatory oversight on participants, enhance transparency and regulate operators within the open banking ecosystem.
The guidelines he said, also stipulates Consent Management, whereby consent of customers is required before their data can be obtained for open banking products and services, among others.
The guidelines are in furtherance of the bank’s mandate to stabilise the financial system, Mr Jimoh stated, adding that they were also pursuant to the bank’s role in deepening the financial system.
“The adoption of open banking in Nigeria will foster the sharing of customer-permissioned data between banks and third-party firms to enable the building of customer-focused products and services.
“It is also aimed at enhancing efficiency, competition, and access to financial services,’’ he stated.
“The guidelines apply to banking and other related financial services as categorised and determined by the apex bank in the regulatory framework for open banking in Nigeria,” he stressed.
