The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued operational guidelines for open banking in Nigeria to ensure stability in the nation’s financial system.
The apex bank in a circular, signed by the Director of Payment Services Management Department, Musa Jimoh, said the guidelines would create greater access to customer-focused data sharing between banks and third-party firms.
It further stated that all stakeholders were mandated to ensure strict compliance with the guidelines and other regulations.
Open banking, through Application Programming Interfaces, enables the sharing of customer-permissioned data between banks and third-party firms. The system allows banks to securely share their customer data with third-party companies, such as fintech and other financial service providers, with the consent of their customers.
Once a customer gives consent for data to be shared, the third-party firm can access their data through the bank’s APIs. This data includes information about the customer’s transactions, account balances and other relevant information.
