The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a decisive directive requiring geo‑tagging of all Point of Sale (PoS) terminals across the country, effective immediately.
The circular, dated August 25 and signed by Rakiya Yusuf, Director of the Payments System Supervision Department, introduces stringent new measures aimed at curbing fraud and reinforcing oversight of the booming digital payments sector.
It is also part of a broader plan to modernise Nigeria’s payment system, improve consumer protection, and ensure that digital financial transactions are secure and fully traceable.
“This initiative is designed to ensure that all PoS terminals are traceable and that transactions are secure. Terminals operating outside their registered location will be flagged, and non-compliant devices will be deactivated.”
The bank explained that the move will help eliminate “ghost” or cloned terminals and enable real-time monitoring of transactions.
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Under the new rule, all existing PoS devices must be equipped with native geolocation capabilities—specifically, double-frequency GPS receivers—and registered with Payment Terminal Service Aggregators (PTSAs), providing accurate latitude and longitude coordinates for each device.
Newly deployed PoS devices will now have native geolocation features and double-frequency GPS receivers for accurate tracking. Terminals failing to comply with the October 20, 2025, deadline will no longer be allowed to operate.
Each POS transaction must include the terminal’s location data at the start of every transaction. If a device operates outside a 10-meter radius of its registered location, it will be flagged—and non-compliant terminals will be barred from processing payments
Licensed operators, including major banks and fintech companies like Moniepoint, OPay, and PalmPay, are expected to register each terminal within 60 days from the circular’s issuance, or risk deactivation a payment aggregator and provide precise merchant coordinates.
The bank will begin enforcing compliance starting October 20, 2025.
Simultaneously, the CBN mandated that all participant institutions—including banks, fintech companies, and payment terminal service providers—migrate to the ISO 20022 messaging protocol by October 31, 2025. Institutions must accurately populate transaction data elements such as payer/payee identifiers, merchant agent information, and metadata in line with the SWIFT-aligned specification. Verification checks will commence on October 20.