CBN Gives Banks Deadline To Migrate to ISO 20022, Mandatory Geo-Tagging of Payment Terminals

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a directive for all operators in the national payment ecosystem to migrate to the ISO 20022 global messaging standard by October 31, 2025. In a circular dated August 25, 2025, the CBN emphasized the importance of this migration as ISO 20022 has become the global benchmark for payment messaging.

The CBN also mandated the mandatory geo-tagging of payment terminals to strengthen oversight, improve transparency, and curb fraud. Payment terminals must be equipped with a native geolocation service supported by a GPS receiver, and must run on a minimum Android OS version 10.

Every terminal must be registered with a Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA), with latitude and longitude coordinates tied to merchant location data. Compliance validation checks will begin on October 20, 2025, with a final deadline set by the apex bank.

This reform aims to strengthen Nigeria's payment infrastructure, enhance transparency, and align the financial system with international.