Let me break this down in a plain language.
Tinubu’s govt has asked Opay, Palmpa, Kuda Bank, and Moniepoint to stop new customers from opening accounts on their platforms.
So, if Musa, Emeka, or Tunde wants to register on Opay, they can’t.
The reason they gave was that Nigerians use the platforms for “illegal forex exchange – i.e. Nigerians send and receive dollars and Naira on the platform.
This is a fat lie, actually. Here’s the real truth.
Nigerians are fast accepting and trusting FinTechs like Opay, Palmpay, Kuda, and Moniepoint. This is because they do for Nigerians what commercial banks can’t do – I mean, the likes of GT, First Bank, UBA, etc.
With Opay, for instance, Nigerians can send and receive money in less than 2 minutes – money will enter acct and alert will show. This is what takes commercial banks over 5-30 minutes.
Fintechs like Moniepoint and Opay have reduced the queues in bank ATMs with their POS. So, Musa, Emeka, or Tunde will not need to stress and go to ATM to queue. The ATM sef will still charge them.
Fintechs like Palmpay, Kuda now have a very secure system where people can save money and be rest assured that it’s safe instead of stressing to go to the bank.
So, FinTechs are hugely affecting commercial banks and might just close their business, if care isn’t taken. Their owners had to run to Abuja to beg for help.
Let me not say that Nigeria’s govt “love to see Nigerians suffer” but you should be the judge.
First scenario, either Musa, Tunde or Emeka wants to transfer N100k to his mum in the village through GTB. His mama in the village uses Ecobank. GTB will charge him N50-100 for stamp duty and tax for sending money. Ecobank will charge his Mama N50-100 for receiving. The money has reduced to N99,800.
Second scenario, Femi, Uche, or Adamu wants to send his mama N100k through his Opay. His mama uses Palmpay. He will send the money without any charge from Opay. They will even pay him at least N20-70 for sending money through them. Palmpay will gladly receive the money for his mama, for free. the N100k is intact.
Again, at month end, Musa, Tunde, or Emeka who uses GTB, First Bank, UBA, Access Bank etc, will start getting debit alerts up and down – they’ll call it “account maintenance” charge, “SMS alert” charge, etc.
Meanwhile, Femi, Uche, or Adamu who uses Opay or Palmpay will not get such charges. Rather, they’ll get a percentage for saving money on their platforms.
