Millions of Nigerians who rely on Verve for everyday payments could face transaction disruptions after a coalition of payment processors, acquirers, and switches threatened to suspend acceptance of Verve card transactions over alleged regulatory and competition-related breaches.
In a letter dated May 28, the coalition accused Interswitch and Verve International of maintaining anti-competitive transaction routing arrangements and imposing fees they claimed exceed regulatory limits. The operators warned that unless urgent undertakings are provided, they may halt acquiring and accepting Verve transactions nationwide.
The dispute could affect merchants, POS operators, fintech platforms, and millions of cardholders across Nigeria. Interswitch, however, pushed back on the allegations, accusing some processors of bypassing its network in ways that could expose the payments ecosystem to fraud.
The matter has reportedly been escalated to the Central Bank of Nigeria, which has summoned all parties for discussions.
