By Omodele Adigun
After more than one year of announcing its plan to introduce Electronic Certificates of Capital Importation (e-CCI), the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) has finally deplored e-CCI platform.
In a circular to the authorized dealers by its Director, Trade & Exchange Department, W D Gotring, posted on its website, the apex bank said the move would enhance transparency and efficient processing of foreign investment flows into the country.
“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,” Gotring said.
He added that from today, Monday September 11, the processing of certificate of capital importation in Nigeria shall only be done electronically on the eCCI platform”
“A certificate of capital importation (CCI) is a certificate issued by a Nigerian bank confirming an 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 repatriations of capital and returns on investment dividend, interest, and capital on divestments. A copy of the CCI must be presented to a Nigerian bank to process a remittance by the requesting company.”, says Mr Taiwo Oyedele, Partner, PwC on onTax and Regulatory services
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 has led to a situation where investors are unable to make repatriations in the event that an original CCI are lost or destroyed. The CBN has now decided to automate the process by migrating to electronic CCIs (e- 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.