The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dr Emomotimi Agama, has said Nigeria may soon exit the Financial Action Task Force grey list.
This came following the signing of the Investments and Securities Act 2025 by President Bola Tinubu.
According to a statement from the SEC on Wednesday, Agama said this while speaking during an interview in Abuja.
The statement noted that Agama said the inclusion of digital assets regulation in the new Act provides a pathway for the country to address long-standing deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regimes.
“It may interest you to know that the AML/CFT issue is what brought about our inclusion in the grey list.
“The inclusion of this law today provides us an avenue to exit that grey list, and that is very critical to the international community. We are telling the international community that we are ready for business and we are ready to protect every business that operates within Nigeria and all those involved in such activities within Nigeria,” Agama said.
Nigeria was placed on the FATF grey list on February 24, 2023, over identified weaknesses in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing framework.
Countries on the list are subject to increased monitoring until they resolve the deficiencies.
Agama stated that the new law empowers the Commission to properly regulate the digital asset space and clamp down on unregulated entities, thereby improving investor confidence and safeguarding national interests.
“This SEC now has the power to clamp down on such entities. So, we encourage everyone who is in this space to come under regulation, to seek clearance, to seek guidance for whatever reason, and we are ready and able to provide solid guidance so that at least the national economic interest is truly protected,” he said.
“The essence of regulating is to provide fences around the institutions, the products, the persons involved in it, and to make sure that they do not involved in things that are illegal.”
The SEC boss also dismissed claims that cryptocurrency trading automatically weakens the naira, noting instead that regulation would provide a safe operating environment for stakeholders and support economic growth.
He added that the Commission is working in collaboration with relevant government agencies to ensure the effective regulation of digital assets.
“It is important also to note that we are working with the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, and the Office of the National Security Adviser on the regulation of this space, in order that it should not be inimical to the existence of Nigeria as a country.
“What we are doing is to make sure that everyone who is involved in this space is properly guided, because for every investment—even when it is a traditional investment—there’s usually the risk aspect of it. That risk aspect is what we are managing,” Agama said.
He disclosed that the Commission is currently adopting a phased licensing approach through two programmes, the Regulatory Incubation Programme and the Accelerated Incubation Programme aimed at evaluating the risks posed by operators in the space.
“It is a process, and in the next quarter, we are going to release the next cohort,” he said. “After the evaluation of what has happened in the last two quarters, we are going to do that release in this next quarter. We are happy to note that the processes around that is almost concluding, and we will inform the public of the outcome very soon.
To further strengthen investor protection, Agama said the Commission is introducing risk management as a legal instrument to guide capital market operations and securities issuance.
“Once this happens, the tendency is that investors will be more confident, because they know that we have their back. That certainly will improve investor protection,” he said.
He added that Know Your Customer processes would also be enhanced under the risk framework, allowing the Commission to better identify genuine investors and weed out bad actors.
“That also helps us to be able to seek out genuine investors from people who do not mean well for the market, and that also will improve investors’ protection,” he added. https://punchng.com/new-securities-act-may-remove-nigeria-from-fatf-grey-list-sec/
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Nigeria To Exit FATF Grey List With New Digital Asset Law - SEC