CBN Issues New Order to Banks, Opay, Moniepoint, Palmpay, Kuda, Others on POS Machines in Nigeria

The Central Bank of Nigeria has issued a new order to banks and licensed payment operators, including Opay, Moniepoint, Palmpay, and Kuda, to install GPS tracking on Point of Sale (PoS) terminals. The directive, communicated through a circular dated August 25 and signed by Rakiya Yusuf, Director of the Payments System Supervision Department at the CBN, requires PoS devices to have a native service-enabled GPS receiver for reliable tracking.

The operators must register the terminals with a payment terminal service aggregator to provide accurate coordinates of the merchant or agent's business location. The CBN aims to increase PoS usage across Nigeria, reduce cash handling, and enhance security.

The new standard also includes adopting the ISO 20022 global transaction standard by October 31, 2025. This move is expected to improve transaction data quality and security in domestic payments.

The full supervision of these measures will begin on October 20, 2025. In 2024.