Ope Adeoye

Open Banking in Nigeria: The Promise, the Gaps, and the Legal Risks Imagine being able to manage all your bank accounts, credit cards, and savings apps from a single platform. That’s the power of Open Banking, it's a system that allows your financial information to move safely between institutions, so you can access loans faster, make payments seamlessly, and enjoy personalized financial solutions. Open Banking is reshaping how money moves in Nigeria. Banks, fintechs, and startups can now share customer-approved data through secure APIs, making it easier to build new apps, credit tools, and payment solutions. But while the Central Bank’s Open Banking Guidelines sound like a big win for innovation, they’ve also opened up a few grey legal areas that founders and compliance teams should pay attention to. 1️⃣ Consent isn’t always clear. Yes, customers must give permission before their data is shared. But how clear is that consent? Many users click “agree” without really knowing what they’ve agreed to, or for how long their data can be used. 2️⃣ Who’s liable when something goes wrong? If a fintech or bank mishandles shared data, who pays for the damage? The CBN guidelines don’t define liability sharply enough, leaving room for disputes when breaches or fraud occur. 3️⃣ Cross-border cloud risk. Many fintechs store or process data abroad. But what happens when a foreign server is compromised or doesn’t meet NDPA standards? Jurisdiction and enforcement get blurry fast. 4️⃣ Weak oversight of third-party providers. Without a strong accreditation system, not every “verified” API partner may have the right security posture, and that’s a big risk for consumers and financial institutions alike. So what should fintechs do? ✅ Get legal clarity on your Open Banking contracts. Spell out liability, data governance, and consent mechanisms. ✅ Vet every API partner and cloud provider. Don’t assume “registered” means “secure.” ✅ Build transparency into your user experience. Explain what data is shared, with whom, and how users can revoke access. 📌 The promise of Open Banking is huge, but only if innovation grows with compliance. At Adune Legal, we help fintechs, banks, and startups build legally sound, regulator-ready frameworks that keep data secure and partnerships clear. #OpenBanking #FinTech #TechLaw #DataProtection #AduneLegal #FinancialInnovation #CBN

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🔗 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗜𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗹𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗜𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗜𝗻 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲. For years, the story has been simple: FinTelcos will kill banks. Banks will crush FinTelcos. Fintechs are the future. But through my five-part series on the potential Standard Bank Group - NCBA Group acquisition [https://lnkd.in/dMnZGRhd], I unveiled something more fundamental: they're not competitors. They operate in three distinct layers, each doing what it does best. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: FinTelcos like M-PESA Africa own customers and scale. They move money brilliantly. But they cannot price credit risk or absorb capital losses. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸: Banks own lending expertise and balance sheets. They price risk accurately. But they cannot match FinTelco's distribution scale. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Fintechs own niches and move fast. But they cannot achieve consumer scale alone. None of these companies can win by themselves. All of them win when they partner. But now something new is emerging: a 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 that doesn't own anything but controls everything. Cellulant orchestrates connections between all three layers. It processes $12B+ annually and is profitable without owning a single distribution channel or lending balance sheet. The Standard Bank-NCBA deal? Banking is positioning itself as FinTelco's essential backend. Cellulant's play? Making sure both need Cellulant. The winner won't be the biggest. The winner will be the most indispensable. I've now documented this as a strategic framework here: [https://lnkd.in/dz4yiFy3] Three questions define your 2026-2030 strategy: Which layer are you in? What makes you world-class there? Which partnerships make you indispensable? #AliTalksTech #FinTech #AfricanFinance #Strategy

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Lidya leadership exits and customer funds trapped raise alarm bells Nigerian fintech Lidya, once seen as a rising star in SME lending, is now under scrutiny after its CEO and CTO stepped down while several clients report being unable to withdraw funds from the company’s platform. Since mid-2024 the company’s Portuguese tech team reportedly collapsed after months without pay, and customers say their wallets have been inaccessible for nearly a year. Read the full analysis: https://lnkd.in/d83A_vPh

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Frictionless payments could unlock Africa’s intra-continental trade. Divest has launched Money Xchange, a platform designed to make transfers across African countries faster, cheaper, and easier for businesses, freelancers, and individuals. For Africa’s fintech ecosystem, platforms like this could drive smoother cross-border commerce and digital finance growth. Could simplified payments transform trade across the continent? Read more: https://lnkd.in/ecVw5byn #InnovationVillage #AfricaTech #Fintech #CrossBorderPayments #DigitalFinance #AfricanStartups

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Cross-border payments remain a major bottleneck for African businesses, often slow, expensive, and limited by traditional banking systems. Nigerian fintech Fincra has teamed up with Hong Kong’s Reap to change this. Fincra, which builds APIs and infrastructure for businesses to send and receive payments globally, is already active across more than 15 African markets. Now, with Reap’s blockchain-powered, stablecoin-enabled solutions, the partnership will deliver faster, cheaper, and programmable cross-border payment tools. Nigeria is the launch market, but expansion is on the horizon. This collaboration highlights how fintech innovation can reshape global trade corridors, empowering African SMEs to connect with Asia more seamlessly. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/eEjdwncd

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