The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has expressed strong confidence that Nigeria will soon be removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, following the recent enactment of the Investments and Securities Act (ISA 2025) by President Bola Tinubu.
SEC Director-General, Dr. Emomotimi Agama, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, highlighting that the new law introduces robust regulations for digital assets—an area FATF has prioritized in assessing countries for anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CFT) compliance.
Nigeria was placed on the FATF grey list on February 24, 2023, due to identified shortcomings in its AML/CFT frameworks.
Dr. Agama emphasized that the provisions within ISA 2025, especially those targeting digital asset regulation, provide a strategic pathway for Nigeria to address FATF concerns and secure its removal from the list.
“The AML/CFT issue is what led to our inclusion on the grey list. With the passage of this law, we now have a concrete basis for exiting it,” Agama stated. “We are signaling to the global community that Nigeria is open for business and committed to safeguarding all entities operating within its financial ecosystem.”
He clarified that cryptocurrency trading does not inherently weaken the Naira, but stressed the need for proper oversight. The new law empowers SEC to clamp down on unregulated operators and ensures that all stakeholders in the digital asset space come under regulatory guidance.
“We encourage everyone involved in the crypto and digital asset industry to seek proper clearance and operate within the boundaries of the law,” Agama said. “Our goal is to foster innovation while protecting national economic interests.”
The SEC boss added that the commission is working in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), and the Office of the National Security Adviser to ensure the digital finance space is secure and does not pose risks to Nigeria’s sovereignty.
Agama also noted that SEC is adopting a phased approach to regulation. Due to the volume of license applications from digital asset operators, the commission is currently implementing a “regulatory incubation” and “accelerated incubation” programme to assess risk and ensure compliance.
“We plan to release the next cohort of evaluated entities in the upcoming quarter,” he said, assuring that the commission will announce the outcome once the current evaluation phase concludes.
To strengthen investor confidence and address emerging risks, SEC is introducing a risk management framework that will serve as a legal tool to guide capital market operations and protect investors.
“This framework enhances Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols and ensures that only genuine investors participate in the market,” Agama added. “Ultimately, this will elevate investor protection and promote trust in Nigeria’s capital markets.”
![UK Supreme Court Declares Transgender Women Not Legally 'Woman' Under Equality Act The United Kingdom Supreme Court has declared that transgender women, even those with Gender Recognition Certificates, do not fall under the legal definition of "woman" as set out in the landmark Equality Act 2010. The judgment, delivered by five justices on Wednesday could upend years of hard-fought progress by the trans rights movement and is already fuelling calls for a redraft of the Equality Act. The case, a flashpoint in an increasingly polarised gender rights war, was triggered by a challenge from gender-critical campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS). Backed in part by author J.K. Rowling and the advocacy group Sex Matters, FWS argued that the term "woman" in the Equality Act must be understood biologically, and not through self-identification or legal paperwork. The Scottish government, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with trans rights advocates, defended its stance. Its lawyers leaned heavily on the Gender Recognition Act 2004, which states that individuals issued a GRC have legally changed their sex “for all purposes.” That, they argued, should include legal protections reserved for women. The Supreme Court’s central concern in its ruling was that treating trans women as women would create insurmountable “practical problems”. “The meaning of the terms ‘sex’, ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in the [Equality Act] 2010 refer to biological sex, as any other interpretation would render the EA 2010 incoherent and impracticable to operate,” the court ruled. The judges noted that protections for pregnant women would collapse unless “man” and “woman” had a biological meaning. They also found that considering trans women with gender recognition certificates as having a female “certificated sex” created further issues. Lord Hodge said that “interpreting sex as certificated sex would cut across the definitions of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in the [Equality Act 2010] – and thus the protected characteristic of sex – in an incoherent way.” In its reasons, the Supreme Court found that the notion of “certificated sex” would also “weaken the protections given to those with the protected characteristic of sexual orientation,” for example by “interfering with their ability to have lesbian-only spaces and associations”. The justices also found that blurring the boundary of sex would also create “confusion and impracticability” around the provision of “single sex characteristic associations and charities, women’s fair participation in sport, the operation of the public sector equality duty, and the armed forces”. Reacting, the UK Government hailed the “clarity” provided by the Supreme Court’s ruling. “We have always supported the protection of single sex spaces based on biological sex,” a spokesman said. “This ruling brings clarity and confidence, for women and service providers such as hospitals, refuges, and sports clubs. “Single sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this Government.”](https://newsbulletin.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1744804310668-300x169.jpg)
