March Regulatory Roundup 2026

March 2026 Regulatory Roundup

Welcome to our March Regulatory Roundup from Regcompass Consults.

In this Regulatory Update, we bring you the very latest regulatory news and insights across Nigeria, Africa, and beyond.

Beyond reporting developments, we interpret what these changes mean for regulated institutions, fintechs, and market entrants, highlighting emerging risks, compliance obligations, and strategic opportunities.

IN THIS EDITION

News In Nigeria

1. House of Representatives Advances Hearing on Fintech Regulatory Commission Bill
2. Nigerian Banks Meet CBN Recapitalisation Requirements
3. CBN Mandates Automated AML/CFT/CPF Systems for Financial Institutions
4. CBN Introduces New Security Controls for Instant Payments
5. CBN Tightens BVN Compliance Across Financial Services
6. Wise Secures Regulatory Approval to Enter Nigeria

Across Africa

1. Kenya and Rwanda Sign Mutual Recognition Agreement for Payment Licences
2. Kenya Proposes Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bill as African Governments Use Data Protection Laws to Govern AI
3. Inclusive FinTech Forum Convenes in Kigali with Regulatory Fragmentation as Key Barrier

Across the World

1. Canada Completes First Tokenised Bond Issuance on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Under Project Samara
2. Revolut Receives Full Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) Approval to Launch Bank in the UK
3. UK Government Advances Plans to Abolish the Payment Systems Regulator

Crypto Scoop

1. US Senate Negotiates Stablecoin Yield Compromise to Advance Digital Asset Market Clarity Act
2. KAST Raises $80M to Scale Stablecoin Neobank Globally Including Naira Payouts

Deals and Raises

Mergers and Acquisitions

House of Representatives Advances Public Hearing on Proposed Fintech Regulatory Commission Bill

A public hearing on 02 March 2026 tested industry appetite for a Nigerian Fintech Regulatory Commission (NFRC) that would consolidate licensing and supervision currently split across the CBN, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) into one statutory body. Telecom operators backed the bill while fintechs, including OPay, raised concerns about duplication and rising compliance costs. If passed, this bill will fundamentally reshape how Nigeria’s 430+ fintech operators are licensed and at what cost, making it one of the most consequential legislative proposals in the sector this year.

Nigerian Banks Meet CBN Recapitalisation Requirements

Thirty of Nigeria’s thirty-five banks met the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) new minimum capital thresholds ahead of the 31 March deadline, with Union Bank and Unity Bank satisfying the requirement through a CBN-approved merger. The exercise mobilised over ₦4.05 trillion in fresh capital, with 28% sourced from foreign investors, making it Nigeria’s most significant banking reform since 2004. Banks that missed the deadline face licence revocation, and the sector’s strong foreign capital uptake signals that Nigeria’s banking industry is open and investible which creates compliance, audit, and restructuring implications for both banks and their counterparties.

CBN Mandates Automated AML/CFT/CPF Systems for Financial Institutions

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued baseline standards requiring financial institutions to implement automated AML/CFT/CPF systems. These systems must support real-time transaction monitoring, detect suspicious activity, and enable regulatory reporting. With implementation timelines of 18–24 months, institutions must transition from manual processes to technology-driven compliance frameworks. This raises the operational bar and creates immediate demand for system upgrades, regulatory advisory, and implementation support.

CBN Introduces New Security Controls for Instant Payments

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has introduced new enhanced authentication requirement security measures for instant payment transactions, targeting fraud prevention and customer protection across digital channels. The directive strengthens risk controls within Nigeria’s instant payments ecosystem, which processes transactions in real time across banks and fintech platforms. Financial institutions will need to update their systems to align with the new requirements and reduce exposure to fraud as instant payments continue to scale.

CBN Tightens BVN Compliance Across Financial Services

The CBN reinforced mandatory Bank Verification Number (BVN) linkage across the entire customer lifecycle and warned against fraudulent collection practices that use impersonation and fraudulent job offers to harvest identity data. BVN collection remains restricted to approved financial institutions and authorised channels only. This directive reinforces BVN as the cornerstone of Nigeria’s Know Your Customer (KYC) framework. Institutions that have not built BVN verification into every stage of the customer lifecycle now carry both a compliance gap and a direct fraud exposure.

Wise Secures Regulatory Approval to Enter Nigeria

Wise, the UK remittance fintech, received regulatory approval to launch its services in Nigeria, announced within a UK government communiqué following the UK-Nigeria Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership dialogue on March 16, 2026. While Nigerians have accessed Wise indirectly through cross-border corridors and third-party integrations, full local presence changes the competitive dynamic entirely. For Nigerian and Africa-focused remittance operators, this signals that the market’s most attractive corridors are attracting the world’s best.

Kenya and Rwanda Sign Mutual Recognition Agreement for Payment Licences

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the National Bank of Rwanda (NBR) signed a framework allowing payment fintechs licensed in one country to operate in the other without a separate application, forming part of the East African Community’s (EAC) cross-border payments masterplan. This development directly reduces expansion costs and timelines for fintechs operating across both markets. For pan-African operators, this is a live blueprint for regulatory harmonisation and a signal that East Africa is setting the pace on licence portability across the continent.

Kenya Proposes Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bill as African Governments Use Data Protection Laws to Govern AI

Kenya’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bill was formally introduced in the Senate on 19 February 2026 and is now advancing through the legislative process, proposing registration requirements for certain AI systems, transparency standards, and mandatory risk management frameworks. A March 2026 report by the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) found that across seven African countries, data protection laws are increasingly functioning as the primary instrument of AI governance, as standalone AI legislation catches up. For financial institutions, AI governance is rapidly becoming a core compliance function, particularly in credit scoring, fraud detection, and onboarding processes.

Inclusive FinTech Forum Convenes in Kigali with Regulatory Fragmentation as Key Barrier

The third Inclusive FinTech Forum drew over 3,000 delegates to Kigali from 10 to 12 March, with central bankers, operators, and investors converging on digital currency corridors, artificial intelligence (AI) powered financial inclusion, and open finance frameworks.  It fragmented licensing regimes as the primary barrier to fintech scale in Africa and regulatory harmonisation and cross-border frameworks emerged as central themes. This reinforces the strategic importance of regulatory advisory in enabling expansion across multiple African markets. Rwanda’s rise to 3rd in Africa and 67th globally on the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) reflects the dividend of deliberate, enabling regulation.

Canada Completes First Tokenised Bond Issuance on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Under Project Samara

A consortium of Canadian institutions, including the Bank of Canada (BoC), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Capital Markets, TD Bank Group, and Export Development Canada (EDC), completed the country’s first tokenised bond issuance on a permissioned distributed ledger in March 2026 under Project Samara. The exercise involved a single CAD 100 million bond with a maturity of under three months, settled in central bank money, with the Bank of Canada confirming that operational efficiency, data integrity, and workflows were all improved by the process. For regulated capital markets participants globally, this is a significant proof of concept: tokenised bond settlement on distributed ledger technology is no longer theoretical, and the race to build the compliance infrastructure that supports it has begun.

Revolut Receives Full Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) Approval to Launch Bank in the UK

Revolut Bank UK received regulatory approval from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in March 2026 to exit the mobilisation phase and launch as a fully licensed bank in the United Kingdom (UK), ending a five-year licensing journey that began in 2021. The lifted restrictions pave the way for Revolut to expand into lending and a wider range of banking products across the UK. For regulated fintechs on the African continent eyeing UK expansion, this milestone is instructive: the PRA mobilisation process is long and demanding, but it now has a proven path to full authorisation.

UK Government Advances Plans to Abolish the Payment Systems Regulator

The United Kingdom (UK) government is progressing legislation to fold the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) into the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), with full consolidation expected by end of 2026 as a deliberate pro-growth measure. TWhile this simplifies regulatory structure, it is expected to increase enforcement intensity due to the FCA’s broader mandate. Firms operating or expanding into the UK must prepare for stricter conduct and compliance expectations.

US Senate Negotiates Stablecoin Yield Compromise to Advance Digital Asset Market Clarity Act

US senators continued negotiations in March 2026 to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, stalled over a dispute between banks and crypto platforms about whether stablecoin holders should be permitted to earn rewards on their holdings. The banking industry argues that stablecoin rewards function like deposit interest and risk triggering deposit flight from traditional institutions, while the crypto sector argues restrictions would stifle innovation. The emerging compromise centres on permitting transaction-based rewards rather than balance-based rewards. This has direct implications for African fintechs relying on USD stablecoins, as it will shape product design, revenue models, and regulatory exposure.

KAST Raises $80M to Scale Stablecoin Neobank Globally Including Naira Payouts

KAST’s $80 million raise reflects growing institutional confidence in stablecoin-based financial infrastructure, particularly for cross-border payments. With support for multiple currencies including the naira, its expansion positions it as a direct competitor in emerging market payment ecosystems, increasing both innovation and regulatory scrutiny.

1. Ualá (Argentina neobank) secures $195M in equity financing led by Allianz X, reaching a $3.2B valuation for Latin American expansion.
2. Uzum (Uzbekistan digital bank) raises $130M+ led by sovereign entities of the Sultanate of Oman at a $2.3B pre-money valuation.
3. Stacks (UK agentic AI fintech) raises $23M Series A led by Lightspeed to automate operational finance workflows for businesses.
4. Orca Fraud (South African fraud detection startup) closes $2.35M seed round led by Norrsken22 with participation from Enza Capital and CV VC Africa.
5. Rowspace (United States (US) AI fintech for private equity) launches with $50M in total funding led by Sequoia and Emergence Capital.

1. Revolut acquires a European payments footprint as J. Safra Sarasin completes its €1.1B acquisition of Saxo Bank, approved by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA).
2. J. Safra Sarasin completes its €1.1B acquisition of Saxo Bank, approved by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA).
3. Ramp acquires Swedish fintech Billhop to secure European payment licences and expand its corporate spend management platform into the European Union (EU).
4. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) acquires Canadian mortgage fintech Pinch Financial to accelerate its digital mortgage roadmap across Canada.
5. Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Grouppursues acquisition of a stake in Pesapal, the regional payments platform licensed across five East African markets, with regulatory approval pending.

We hope you found our March Regulatory Roundup 2025 helpful and informative. If you have questions or insights about the regulatory landscape in your region? Reach out to us on any of our social media handles, email and we would be available to help. Also share your thoughts in the comments below and let’s continue the conversation!

For a deep dive into past regulatory changes, catch up on our February Regulatory Roundup  and explore our complete Regulatory Roundup Archive for more material

Please note that the information provided in this article does not constitute legal advice and should not be construed as such. For legal advice specific to your situation, please consult a legal practitioner.