What are Certificates of Capital Importation (“CCI”)?
Certificates of Capital Importation are issued in respect of foreign exchange inflow for loans, investments and/or capital subject to existing guidelines.
Foreign investors who wish to buy shares or import foreign capital can do so through an Authorised dealer. The authorised dealer (usually commercial banks), upon issuance of the Certificate of Capital Importation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (“CBN”) will deliver the said Certificate which guarantees unconditional transferability and repatriation of funds with regards to both earnings and capital.
Benefits?
A CCI entitles a foreign investor to:
- Open a foreign currency domiciliary account with any authorised dealer
- Open a non-resident Naira account
- Buy shares in Nigerian companies
- Repatriate the capital, dividends, and incomes at autonomous market rates minus taxes.
Procedure and requirements
CCIs are issued to investors on the basis of the following documents
Where the Investment is in form of Inflow of Funds:
-
- Authenticated SWIFT message advising payment;
- Board resolution of the local beneficiary authorising the investment;
- Purpose of capital importation (e.g. equity, portfolio, loan);
- Evidence of incorporation where applicable.
(For equity and loan, the following are required:
- Letter from the customer requesting for CCI
- Name and address of foreign investor (to be provided by the Nigerian company).
- Registration number and date of registration of investors
- Nature of Business of Investor
- Sector of Operation of the beneficiary.)
(Additionally, where it is for a loan,
- Offer letter by the Investor and acceptance by the beneficiary; and
- Loan agreement stating the repayment schedule (tenor and interest rate)
Are required)
Where Capital is in form of Equipment/Machinery or Raw Material
- Original Combined Certificate of Value and Origin (CCVO) and Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR)
- Certified copy of Bill of Lading (original to be sighted)
- Certified copy of Bill of Entry/Single Goods Declaration Form (original copy to be sighted)
- Single Goods Declaration (SGD) Form number.
Remittances in respect of Investment under the Debt Conversion Programme
- A status report must be obtained from the Debt Management Office (DMO) before repatriation of capital, profit, interest and/or dividends, in respect of transactions, which have been approved under the DMO Scheme.
- Evidence of payment of the mandatory 2.5% transaction cost paid to the Nostro account of CBN.
e-CCI
In September 2017, in a bid to enhance transparency and efficient processing of foreign investment flows to Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria implemented the Electronic Certificate of Capital Importation (eCCI).Thus, currently, the processing of the Certificate of Capital Importation in Nigeria is done electronically on the eCCI platform.
However, the regulatory requirements for the issuance of CCI remain the same and in line with the CBN guidelines.
E-certificates have replaced the paper CCI. An Electronic copy of the Issued CCI can be printed or viewed on the eCCIS.
Benefits of e-CCI
- Eliminates the worry over the safe-keeping of physical CCIs.
- Puts an end to cases of CCIs being lost in transit or damaged from fire, water, etc.
- Investments can be easily tracked across banks as users will be able to access their investments using a unique identifier.
- Improves turn-around-time as the process is made shorter and more efficient by its electronic mature.
- Requests requiring CBN approval are sent online and the status can be easily tracked.
- Drastically reduces paper usage.
