Senate rejected a new regulator. Your OPay is still the CBN's problem.

The Nigerian Senate decided this week that Nigeria doesn't need a standalone fintech regulator. Instead, they're expanding the Central Bank's powers to cover the sector directly.

The decision affects every Nigerian using OPay, Moniepoint, Kuda, Palmpay, or any digital lending app.

The argument against a new commission was reasonable: creating a separate body would duplicate functions, fragment oversight, and add bureaucracy to an already crowded regulatory field. Fintech touches payments, banking, consumer protection, data, and securities all at once. One regulator with existing expertise makes more sense than a new one still learning the terrain.

The argument for a new body was also reasonable: the CBN is already stretched, already political, and its track record on protecting ordinary Nigerians from fintech fraud is not clean.

Remember CBEX. An estimated N1.3 trillion vanished from ordinary Nigerians in 2025 through a crypto Ponzi scheme. The CBN was the regulator on duty. Nobody went to jail. Nobody answered for it.

The Senate is now giving that same institution more power over a sector that is growing faster than the regulations around it.

Maybe that's right. Maybe consolidation beats fragmentation. But if your digital wallet goes to zero next year, the CBN is the number you'll be calling. And it already has your last call on hold.