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Promoters of Coin Finance Company Ltd say the CBN has held their ₦100.35m payment for about 15 months after suspending new finance house licence applications.
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The investors are seeking a refund with applicable interest, saying repeated requests since October 2025 have yielded no resolution.
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The promoters warn they may pursue administrative and legal options if the funds are not returned.
October 27, (THEWILL) – Investors behind the proposed Coin Finance Company Ltd have asked the Central Bank of Nigeria to refund ₦100.35m paid for a finance house licence, with applicable interest, after the suspension of new applications stalled their plans to establish the institution.
The promoter representative, Christopher Itua, said in a statement on Sunday that the funds had remained with the apex bank for about 15 months without progress on the proposed finance house.
According to Itua, the investors paid ₦100m as a capital deposit, ₦100,000 as an application fee and ₦250,000 as a licensing fee on July 16, 2025, bringing the total to ₦100.35m.
The payment was made to meet the licensing requirements for the proposed institution. However, he said CBN officials informed the promoters in October 2025 that the processing of new finance house applications had been suspended until further notice.
Following the suspension, Itua wrote to the CBN Department of Financial Policy and Regulation on October 15, 2025, requesting the return of the funds with applicable interest.
The promoters subsequently petitioned the CBN Consumer Protection Department on May 18, 2026, and sent a follow-up letter on July 7. They said they had received neither a refund timeline nor a substantive update.
“It has now been over 14 months since the CBN took possession of our capital,” Itua said in his latest appeal to the CBN governor.
Investors seek interest on retained funds
The investors are asking the CBN to calculate applicable interest on the ₦100.35m from July 16, 2025, when the funds were deposited, until the date of repayment.
They said they had submitted payment receipts, transaction documents and previous correspondence in support of their request.
Itua argued that the prolonged retention of the funds had stalled plans to establish the finance house, which he said was intended to expand access to finance for small businesses and grassroots entrepreneurs.
“The Finance House is meant to boost grassroots empowerment, a sector that is very important to strengthening the micro economy,” he said.
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He maintained that inadequate financial institutions serving smaller businesses remained a constraint despite improvements in the broader macroeconomic environment.
“The macro is doing well, but the micro is not. This is the missing link because there are not enough institutions to power that sector,” he added.
The promoters said the delay in recovering their capital had undermined their ability to proceed with the proposed business and questioned the implications for the government’s ease-of-doing-business objectives.
“The prolonged silence and structural failure to return capital deposits directly undermine the Federal Government’s ease-of-doing-business initiatives,” Itua said.
Promoters consider further action
The investors appealed to the CBN governor to intervene and resolve the matter through the bank’s administrative channels, saying they had repeatedly sought a resolution.
They warned that continued inaction could lead them to pursue further administrative and legal options, although they preferred to settle the matter without escalation.
The statement did not indicate whether the CBN had formally rejected the refund request or provided an explanation for retaining the funds. The investors’ account of the suspension, correspondence, and outstanding repayment remains their claim; no response from the apex bank was included in the statement.
Ogochukwu Onwaeze is a writer specializing in business and economic journalism. At THEWILL News Media, she translates market trends, financial developments, and policy shifts into clear and engaging stories.
