CBN Orders Banks To Comply With Payment Messaging Standard Before October 31
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a directive mandating all operators in the nation’s payment ecosystem to complete migration to the ISO 20022 global messaging standard and implement mandatory geo-tagging of payment terminals by October 31, 2025.
In a circular published on its official website and dated August 25, 2025, and seen by THE WHISTLER, the apex bank reminded Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Microfinance Banks (MFBs), Mobile Money Operators (MMOs), Switching and Processing Companies, Payment Terminal Service Providers (PTSPs), Payment Solution Service Providers (PSSPs), Super Agents, and other licensed operators that compliance is compulsory.
The document, signed by Dr. Rakiya O. Yusuf, Director of the Payments System Supervision Department, underscored that ISO 20022 has become the global benchmark for payments messaging.
The regulator stated that the move aligns with the global migration timeline set by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) and aims to standardise quality data across Nigeria’s financial system.
“All payment transaction messages exchanged domestically or internationally must be formatted in ISO 20022 in line with CBN and SWIFT specifications,” the circular read.
Operators are required to ensure accurate population of mandatory data elements, including payer and payee identifiers, merchant and agent identifiers, as well as transaction metadata.
The CBN warned that institutions in scope must complete migration and achieve full compliance before the October 31 deadline.
Beyond messaging standards, the central bank introduced mandatory geo-tagging of payment terminals as part of efforts to strengthen oversight, improve transparency, and curb fraud in the electronic payments ecosystem.
Under the directive, all existing and new payment terminals must be equipped with native geolocation services supported by double-frequency GPS receivers.
The circular further directed that all terminals must be registered with a Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA), with latitude and longitude coordinates tied to the precise location of each merchant.
To ensure compatibility with the National Central Switch’s monitoring system, Android OS version 10 was set as the minimum software requirement for all devices.
According to the CBN, terminals not routed through a PTSA will not be permitted to process transactions, while geo-location data must be captured at the point of transaction and included as a mandatory reporting field in the message payload.
The regulator gave operators 60 days from the date of the circular to geo-tag all existing terminals, while new terminals must be tagged before certification and activation.
The apex bank also disclosed that compliance validation exercises would commence on October 20, 2025, ahead of the final deadline.
It stressed that the reforms are designed to strengthen Nigeria’s payments infrastructure, enhance transparency, and align the financial system with international best practices.
CBN Orders Banks To Comply With Payment Messaging Standard Before October 31 is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
