Eyowo: We have restored customers' access to their funds

On the 22nd of May 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) implemented comprehensive reforms in the neo-banking sector. One of the actions taken was a mass revocation of microfinance bank licences, a decision that also impacted Eyowo and the ability to serve our customers. We have spent the last nine months engaging the regulator, fulfilling their requirements and ensuring we can be reinstated to commence operations.

Throughout this period, our primary focus has always been our customers. We have committed all available manpower and resources towards restoring their access to funds entrusted to us. This has been our priority in the last few months, and we are relieved that we have finally honoured this commitment to our customers.

Eyowo customers now have access to their funds through our partnership with ProvidusBank as they individually conclude the verification process. We put this process in place to ensure the safety of their funds, prevent fraud and for regulatory compliance.

We are grateful to Providus Bank, the tech ecosystem, and our friends and family who have all been an invaluable asset to us on this journey. It’s been a long and challenging journey, which we have persevered through because we thoroughly believe in Eyowo’s mission to provide intuitive financial services for ‘anyone with a smartphone’.

Our market has experienced significant growth in the past decade, thanks to a supportive regulatory environment and customer embrace of digital finance. However, innovation and regulations have not always kept pace with each other, and as a pioneering digital finance company, we have worked hard to grow within the bounds of existing regulations, while also adapting to new economic conditions, changing customer needs, and evolving regulatory requirements. We believe this is why Eyowo was affected by the CBN's decision in 2023 and why we were able to respond quickly to the regulator's recommendations.

We have successfully met the requirements laid out by the CBN and have got our licence reinstated with an approval-in-principle.

With the basic infrastructure in place and our licence restored, we turned our attention to restructuring our internal operations and connecting our systems. We have spent the last four months streamlining our internal processes and external relationships so that we are fully aligned to enter a new phase of operations.

Our journey of innovation has been one of continuous evolution, and we have learnt a lot about human interaction with money and how to make it better. We will continue to pioneer new products, partnerships and experiences working with our amazing team to make living and life better for our customers.

We apologise for the way the situation has unfolded over the last few months and take full responsibility for our role in this matter.

We are grateful for the patience our customers have shown, as their cooperation has enabled us to overcome this challenge in our journey. We are here to provide them the support needed to resolve any issues they have via our defined channels.

We look forward to a future where we continue to enable financial mobility, connectedness and progress for everyone, especially the creators and entrepreneurs we serve.