EFCC To OPay: Don’t Allow Fraud, Money Laundering

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has urged the management of one of Nigeria’s leading digital banking operators, OPay, to prioritise complying with existing regulations to maintain business integrity and curb fraudulent activities.

The EFCC boss, Ola Olukoyede, stated this during a courtesy visit to the anti-graft headquarters by OPay CEO, Steven Wen, along with other senior executives on Thursday.

Olukoyede’s call came at a time when Nigerian fintech companies are facing increasing regulatory scrutiny, especially around Anti-Money Laundering controls, fraud prevention, and customer verification processes.

The EFCC boss, speaking through its Chief of Staff, Michael Nzekwe, emphasised the role of anti-corruption in stimulating economic growth.

He urged Opay to uphold strict compliance with laws in all business operations.

“Work on Know Your Customers, KYC, don’t give room for fraud, don’t allow your company to be used for money laundering and comply with every law of the land,” Olukoyede said.

He also praised Opay for its local content employment strategy, noting that

“Your ninety-nine per cent local employees are very good, we must commend you for that, but then again, it is also important to reiterate the need for compliance with local laws. It is very important because you have to ensure it is not just by word of mouth but more by action that you comply with the local laws,” he said.

The Director of Investigation at EFCC, Abdulkarim Chukkol, underscored the importance of safeguarding company systems against insider abuse.

“Systems integrity is also very important to look at, secondly, the KYC, it is not enough for us to say let us just follow only what the CBN has given us, but again, you have to go the extra mile.

“I also want to advise on the people that you employ, sometimes insider abuse is very rampant, no matter how tight your system is, when you bring in somebody that can do and undo, then definitely everybody is at risk,” he said.

OPay’s CEO Wen, earlier in his presentation, disclosed that compliance with regulations, customer satisfaction and revenue generation are priorities his company considered very important.

“The most important thing in our company is compliance with local laws, compliance with local regulations, second is customer certification, how we use innovative solutions to solve our customer problems, to provide them value.

“Then, number three is how to grow our revenue. We believe that compliance with the law is a red line we cannot cross,” he said.