Ademola Tayo

Husband | Dad | Ex-BAML |Ex-Amazonian | Finance Professional | Entrepreneur |Technology Enthusiast | Columbia |Public Policy Enthusiast | Humanist/Feminist

[Ademola Tayo @apt_altruist]

So, I was chatting with a few friends sometime last week and someone asked me what I think will be the likely implications of the new guideline on remittances flowing into Nigeria by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).  I responded with the below piece last week and I thought I would share it with you. Get your Macallan, bottle of beer or whatever you like to drink and enjoy this piece. It is Friday after all. Sipping my Macallan as well 😊

The CBN New Remittance Guideline and likely Implication

The Central Bank of Nigeria issued a Reviewed Guidelines of International Money Transfer Services (IMTS) in Nigeria to all Authorized Dealers, International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs), and General Public on January 31st, 2024, and there is confusion among stakeholders and public on few areas of the guidelines. While this piece is not meant to provide clarity on these areas of confusion, it attempts to provide clarity on potential consequences of the guideline, ask few clarifying questions, and reiterate that the guideline is a stop-gap policy guideline for addressing the super high volatility in the foreign exchange market.  

The potential implications from CBN guidelines to the IMTOs and all stakeholder on Foreign Exchange inflow to Nigeria are likely many but here are a few I can think of for now:

1.      Entry into or maintaining the IMTO business becomes a bit challenging due to an increase in annual licensing fee from N500k to N10M (1,900% hike in licensing fees) in addition to a $1M capital requirement (This piece was an existing policy). Given the importance of the foreign exchange market and the role that IMTOs play to financial stability in Nigeria, increasing the barrier to entry to IMTO business is a good call but I think N10M is a bit on the high side. N5M licensing fee is ideal if we benchmark against US average licensing fees for Money Service Business (MSB) entities.  

2.      IMTO can no longer facilitate USD-to-USD transactions. Some IMTOs such as Sendwave, WorldRemit already sent out circulars to their clients regarding this. I got one from Sendwave as well 😊. So, what this basically means is that for those who operate a Domiciliary account in Nigeria, they can no longer receive hard currencies (dollar, pounds, euro etc.) into their account via the IMTO platforms. However, there is a work around on this, you can still do your USD-to-USD transaction via the traditional bank platforms. Obviously, this comes with additional transaction cost. The last time I did a wire transfer to a domiciliary account in Nigeria via the traditional banking service, it cost $45 vs 1.2% fee capped at $14 with IMTO (Based on Sendwave transaction fee).

3.      ⁠I expect liquidity to improve on the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM). Given that most of the dollar inflow into Nigeria was out of the financial system, this new directive is to ensure that remittance inflow goes through the financial system and as such will improve foreign exchange liquidity from remittance perspective largely. Already based on these guidelines and other similar ones, Nigeria already sees over $1B additional liquidity in the market per the CBN governor Olayemi Cardoso. I was surprised why it took CBN this long to put out such guidelines. I was under the impression that the challenges were more of compliance issues. However, for this to work, CBN needs its staff to do their job. Because this is where the real work is. The elephant in the room is for CBN to overcome what I term the “Nigeria factor.” One “Tom” in CBN department of Trade & Exchange can easily collude with the banks and IMTOs to circumvent compliance requirements. So, for this to work, CBN needs to do much more than just issuing policy guidance. It needs to have a holistic compliance framework that sends a signal to the market reiterating that there is a new sheriff in town and that it is no longer business as usual. Otherwise, we will have another stop-gap policy

[Ademola Tayo @apt_altruist]

@uncle__olu 😂😂😂😂

[Proshare @proshare]

As Customer Service Week 2026 draws to a close, the Proshare team is going The Extra Mile to say a heartfelt Thank You to our esteemed clients, partners, and community!

Our strength lies in our diversity, shared trust, and commitment to delivering critical market intelligence every day. To celebrate the week's climax, our team wore rich traditional attire to thank you across Nigeria’s vibrant cultures and languages, from Yoruba and Ijebu to Pidgin, Hausa, Igbo, and Ibibio.

No matter what language you speak, our message remains unanimous: thank you for trusting Proshare as your partner in navigating the markets. We remain committed to going the extra mile for you.

Happy Customer Service Week from all of us at Proshare! 🎉✨

#CustomerServiceWeek #CSW2026 #TheExtraMile #Proshare

[Noah Shinn @noahrshinn]

Instinct should be simple. You shouldn’t have to work around someone else’s app or website to get something done. The interface should be built for you, every time.

Today we’re rolling out a new hotel experience, built on exactly that idea. Tell Instinct where you’re going and what you care about, and it builds a hotel guide around your taste. Once you pick a room, Instinct books it for you.

Every guide is different. If location matters, you’ll get a map of the city with the closest hotels to where you need to be. If cost matters, the cheapest rooms are front and center. If it’s a big family trip, you’ll see places with a big pool and enough space to keep the kids and grandma all happy.

[Marc Benioff @Benioff]

The era of Super Intelligence is here. AIForce is officially SIForce.

[Ademola Tayo @apt_altruist]

Kwame 1 + 2baba and Chimamanda in one body of work. #9album by #Fola is solid sophomore. Weekend play.

[Stephen Deng @mrstephendeng]

Thank you @Shalom_HeyEliy for giving me an example of AI-native development in Nigeria so undeniable that I can use it to shell shock my peers in the US.

[Ademola Tayo @apt_altruist]

Defnitely the Africa AI era. It fast traction is insane. Super proud of the team!

[Stephen Deng @mrstephendeng]

Now at almost 5M total players and an angel round from some of Nigeria's best known founders in under 10 days.

Welcome to Africa's AI era. Time to adjust your priors.

[Olufemi AWOYEMI @OlufemiAwoyemi]

"Ogun àsọtẹ́lẹ̀ kì í pa arọ, tí arọ ọ̀hún bá gbọ́n,"

which literally translates to:

"A war announced well in advance does not kill a lame person, if that lame person is wise [enough to prepare]📌

[Ademola Tayo @apt_altruist]

This right here!!

[Olufemi AWOYEMI @OlufemiAwoyemi]

I am just going to post this in response to [various] news in the last few days which can apply to each >>>>>

'The contradiction is rather obvious and at the same time, the solution is truly curious and the maths does not add up for the solution proposed.'

This is typical of a world/ sovereign in transition and denial.

[Shalom Rayhamen @Shalom_HeyEliy]

5 MILLION PLAYERS IN JUST 9 DAYS!!! 😭🇳🇬👑🔥

WHAT IS HAPPENINGGGG!!! 🚀🚀🚀

We just crossed 5,000,000 players on Lagos Life!

👑 5M+ players
🔥 110,000+ playing right now
🌍 34 MILLION+ visits
ALL IN JUST 9 DAYS!!!
What started as an idea is becoming something bigger than I ever imagined.

To every single person playing, sharing, building, and making noise about Lagos Life, THANK YOU! ❤️

And the craziest part? WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED!

5M DOWN. 10M NEXT! 🚀👑🇳🇬

https://t.co/xMHi8ABIY3
#LagosLife

[Nairametrics @Nairametrics]

Enugu State has secured a $200 million investment to develop a 100-megawatt (MW) solar power project aimed at improving electricity supply to homes and businesses across the state.

[Hon. Ọmọtọ́ńsọrẹ̀ @oMoTonsore]

J.P. Morgan plans to establish a merchant bank in Nigeria.

Me: Some people can’t still see Nigeria is working

[funsodoherty @funsodoherty]

Know the people asking for your vote.

Meet The Lagos State NDC Gubernatorial Ticket: Funso Doherty and Tolani Animashaun.

We’re a team with decades of experience across business, education and public service.
We’re not career politicians but people who have built things, run things, and delivered.

This ticket is united by one shared vision:
a Lagos that works for everyone who lives here. Not just the few who can afford to ignore its failures.

A better Lagos begins with knowing your choices.

FD

Ó ti yá.

[Ademola Tayo @apt_altruist]

Goodluck to you and the team.

[funsodoherty @funsodoherty]

Know the people asking for your vote.

Meet The Lagos State NDC Gubernatorial Ticket: Funso Doherty and Tolani Animashaun.

We’re a team with decades of experience across business, education and public service.
We’re not career politicians but people who have built things, run things, and delivered.

This ticket is united by one shared vision:
a Lagos that works for everyone who lives here. Not just the few who can afford to ignore its failures.

A better Lagos begins with knowing your choices.

FD

Ó ti yá.

[Techpoint Africa @TechpointAfrica]

Lagos Life is now valued at $10 million, less than eight days after launch.

Created by Nigerian developer Shalom Rayhamen, the game attracted millions of players within days. Investors include Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola’s Resilience17, Oo Nwoye, Terra Industries CEO Nathan Nwachuku, and Mono CEO Abdulhamid Hassan.

Read the full story: https://t.co/TX1eTQLkrG

[Gavin Baker @GavinSBaker]

Why open-weight models that compress margins at the model layer are net positive for AI infra demand, exhibit 1001.

An open-weight token consumes *roughly* the same amount of compute as a frontier token for a similar size model.

[Nairametrics @Nairametrics]

Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola recorded a N1.48 trillion increase in the market value of his investment in First HoldCo during the third quarter of 2026.

[Meta @Meta]

Introducing Muse for Small Business, a collection of new skills and connectors for the small business owner whose to-do list has a to-do list.

[Ademola Tayo @apt_altruist]

Congrats Shalom and the Team. Wishing you all the best on this journey.

[Shalom Rayhamen @Shalom_HeyEliy]

Lagos Life launched on October 1st. Just 9 days later, over 4.7 million people have played the game.

Today, I’m excited to announce that Vatar, the parent company behind Lagos Life, has closed a $500K angel round led by AB Hassan (@ijbguy), Nathan Nwachuku (@_KingNath), and GB Agboola (@TechProd_Arch).

Lagos is just the beginning. We’re building entire worlds, and there’s so much more to come. 🌍

https://t.co/JzeY50FTOj

[Condia @thecondia]

Company behind viral Nigerian game Lagos Life raises $500k

Vatar, the company behind the viral browser game @LagosLifeApp has closed a $500,000 pre-seed round.

@theflutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola invested in the startup through his fund, Resilience17, while Oo Nwoye, @terraindustries and Mono CEOs Nathan Nwachuku and Abdulhamid Hassan also participated in the round, which closed in a day.

Read More: https://t.co/HRhyOz69N9