CBN Targets Reforms to Ease Compliance Burdens on Fintech Firms

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

To ease regulatory compliance burdens on financial technology (fintech) companies, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is considering some strategic reforms through a policy known as the Single Regulatory Window.

In its 2025 Fintech Report, the central bank said this scheme will significantly reduce time-to-market for new digital financial products by streamlining licensing and supervisory processes across multiple agencies.

The CBN said there would be a shared regulatory infrastructure in form of a Compliance-as-a-Service model to cut down duplicative reporting, ease the burden on regulated fintechs, and enhance supervisory visibility.

The apex bank said it came up with this idea after being aware of some challenges stakeholders, especially operators, go through in the ecosystem.

The bank said fintech firms remain a critical leg in its financial inclusion drive in Nigeria and must be supported to expand their operations to achieve the goal.

The CBN report showed that 62.5 per cent of fintech firms lamented how regulatory timelines materially affect product rollouts, while over one-third noted that it takes more than 12 months to bring a new product to market, largely due to compliance bottlenecks.

“Stakeholders cited delays in approvals and ambiguity in regulatory guidelines as their most pressing concerns,” a part of the report disclosed.

The report recommended “exploring models for a Single Regulatory Window to simplify multi-agency compliance processes and reduce time-to-market.”

It was also suggested that to address the issues, the bank must review “approval timelines and operational guidelines.”

In addition, the central bank was advised to either review the PSB framework or introduce a dedicated digital banking licence that would enable inclusive lending under stronger prudential oversight.

“A dedicated digital bank licence may be a more effective pathway for inclusive lending than expanding the PSB mandate,” the respondents suggested.

As for digital assets, the CBN signalled a shift towards a more nuanced regulatory framework for cryptocurrency, balancing innovation with financial integrity rather than imposing blanket restrictions, as fintechs acknowledged crypto’s potential to drive cost-effective cross-border transactions and strengthen remittance channels, while also warning of risks linked to illicit flows and consumer protection.

“There was broad agreement on the need for a risk-based, activity-focused regulatory framework,” the report stated, adding that regulators must avoid equating all crypto activity with criminality, especially as many scams originate offshore.