Desirous
of enhancing foreign investment flow into the country, the Central Bank
of Nigeria (CBN) has directed banks and other authorised dealers to
immediately commence the issuance of electronic Certificates of Capital
Importation (eCCI) with effect from today...
The
central bank stated this in a letter signed by its Director, Trade and
Exchange Department, W.D. Gotring, a copy of which was posted on its
website.
The
letter stated: “In a bid to enhance transparency and efficient
processing of foreign investment flows to the country, the Central Bank
of Nigeria hereby informs authorised dealers and the public of the
deployment of the electronic Certificate of Capital Importation (eCCI)
platform.
“Accordingly,
the eCCI shall replace the hard copy CCI normally issued in respect of
all capital inflows either in form of cash or machinery/equipment.
“Consequently, effective from Monday, 11th September 2017,
the processing of Certificate of Capital Importation in Nigeria shall
only be done electronically on the eCCI platform. Please note and ensure
compliance accordingly,” the statement read.
A
CCI is a certificate issued by Nigerian banks confirming the inflow of
foreign capital, either in the form of cash (loan or equity) or goods.
A CCI is usually issued in the name of the investor within 24- 48 hours of the inflow of the capital into Nigeria.
The
primary purpose of the CCI is to guarantee access to the official
foreign exchange market for repatriation of capital and returns on
investment – dividend, interest, and capital on divestments.
A copy of the CCI must be presented to the Nigerian bank to process a remittance by the requesting company.
Historically,
CCIs have been issued in hard copy and, for repatriation purposes, the
hard copy of the CCI had to be marked down by the bank.
This,
according to a report by PwC, led to a situation whereby investors were
unable to make repatriations in the event an original CCI had been lost
or destroyed.
“The
CBN has now decided to automate the process by migrating to electronic
CCIs. The e-CCI will be on a server that is maintained by the CBN.
“The
e-CCIs will make it easier to process transactions, ease the process of
tracking transactions and make it easier to amend the CCI where an
investor transfers investment in Nigeria to another investor.
“The
CBN has directed banks to migrate all active CCIs to e-CCIs. It is
clear that government is keen to move from manual to electronic systems.
This should lead to better efficiency, ease of transactions and more
transparency.
“Affected
companies should liaise with their banks to confirm the specific
process and requirements for migration of the paper CCIs,” the PwC
report added.
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