Nigeria’s Central Bank has tightened the screws on the country’s payments industry, ordering all operators to upgrade to international standards and geo-tag every point-of-sale (POS) machine.
In a circular issued on 25 August, the apex bank directed banks, mobile money operators, fintechs, switching firms, super agents, and other licensed providers to migrate fully to the ISO 20022 standard for payment messaging. The move, it says, will align Nigeria’s digital payments with global best practice, improve traceability, and boost security across the system.
The regulator has also made geo-tagging compulsory for every payment terminal, requiring devices to be fitted with dual-frequency GPS, linked to approved aggregators, and capable of capturing location data within 10 metres of the registered business. Only Android v10 and above will be accepted, with strict certification standards enforced by the National Central Switch.
Operators have until October 31 2025 to comply, with CBN compliance checks kicking off from October 20. Any failure to meet the new requirements could leave providers locked out of Nigeria’s payments infrastructure.
The directive marks one of the strongest pushes yet to standardise Nigeria’s fast-growing digital payments ecosystem and stamp out fraud, fake terminals, and shadow operators.
