A Nigerian House bill would create a fintech regulator with power to license firms already subject to several agencies, putting the division of authority at the center of the proposal.
The draft, sponsored by House member Fuad Kayode Laguda, would let the Nigerian Fintech Regulatory Commission issue individual and class licenses, enforce their conditions and handle consumer complaints. It provides for fees when licenses are granted and a registration fee for class licenses. A separate National Fintech Management Council would include existing regulators and could receive federal budget allocations and grants.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) already lists licensed payment-service providers. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has authority under the Investments and Securities Act, 2025, to register and regulate digital-asset exchanges and service providers. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) sets registration requirements for digital consumer lenders.
The bill aims to encourage fintech investment and protect consumers. Its proposed fees would fall on licensees and class registrants, while the council could use public funds. The commission’s broad licensing role would sit alongside the payment, investment and lending responsibilities of those existing agencies.
A CBN fintech report identifies approval delays and unclear guidance as concerns among executives it surveyed. It proposes a shared digital portal to coordinate licensing and supervision across regulators. In that survey, 62.5% of respondents supported the portal proposal.
At a March 2, 2026, House hearing, House Speaker Abbas Tajudeen said the proposed commission was not designed to compete with or undermine existing regulators. At a Senate hearing on a separate banking-law amendment, Senator Mukhail Adetokunbo Abiru argued that another agency would repeat current functions and add administrative costs.
In an Oct. 19, 2026, BusinessDay opinion, Lagos Business School writers Franklin Nnaemeka Ngwu and Chinasa Onwe argued that adding regulators could make responsibility harder to assign. They drew an analogy to fragmented U.S. oversight before the 2008 financial crisis.
The House passed the fintech bill at second reading on Oct. 28, 2025, and received a committee report on July 8, 2026. The House account gave no date for a further decision.
