The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a fresh directive mandating all banks, mobile money operators, super agents, and other licensed players in the payments ecosystem to fully migrate to the ISO 20022 payment messaging standard and geo-tag all point-of-sale (POS) terminals by October 31, 2025.
According to the apex bank, the measure aligns Nigeria’s financial system with global best practices while addressing rising fraud cases in the electronic payments space. It noted that fraudulent practices by rogue POS operators and abuse of payment devices have created vulnerabilities that require tighter surveillance, making geo-tagging and standardised messaging crucial to restoring confidence in the retail payments system.
In a circular signed by the Director of the Payments System Supervision Department, Dr. Rakiya Yusuf, the CBN stated that all domestic and cross-border payment transaction messages must now be formatted in ISO 20022. The standard requires the complete and accurate inclusion of mandatory data elements such as payer and payee identifiers, merchant and agent details, and transaction metadata.
The CBN explained that adopting ISO 20022 will enhance compliance with international benchmarks, improve transparency, and close loopholes often exploited by fraudsters.
On terminal geo-tagging, the bank directed that all existing and newly deployed POS devices must be equipped with native geolocation services and double-frequency GPS receivers to guarantee reliable positioning. Each device must also be registered with a Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA), reflecting the exact latitude and longitude of the merchant or agent’s location.
Furthermore, all terminals and applications must be certified by the National Central Switch (NCS) and integrate its Geolocation SDK for monitoring and geofencing. The SDK must be initialised at the registered business location, with a maximum permitted geofence radius of 10 meters. Geo-location data must also be captured at the point of transaction initiation and embedded in the message payload as a mandatory field.
The circular stressed additional compliance rules:
- Android OS v10 is the minimum requirement across all terminals to ensure compatibility with the NCS geolocation system.
- Terminals not routed through a PTSA are prohibited from transacting.
- All terminals must adhere strictly to approved Merchant Service Codes (MSC) by sector.
- Existing terminals must be geo-tagged within 60 days of the circular, while new devices must be tagged before certification and activation.
The CBN warned that compliance validation exercises will commence on October 20, 2025, ahead of the final migration deadline.
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