Nigeria: Central Bank issued Circular mandating ISO 20022 migration and terminal geo-tagging

On 25 August 2025, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued circular No. PSS/DIR/PUB/CIR/001/001 mandating all Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Microfinance Banks (MFBs), Mobile Money Operators (MMOs), Switching and Processing Companies (SPCs), Payment Terminal Service Providers (PTSPs), Payment Solution Service Providers (PSSPs), Super Agents (SAs), and other licensed operators within Nigeria’s payments ecosystem to migrate all domestic and international payment transaction messaging to the ISO 20022 standard. The circular required the accurate population of mandatory data elements such as payer and payee identifiers, merchant and agent identifiers, and transaction metadata. All existing and new payment terminals were to feature native geolocation services using double-frequency Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, be registered with a Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA), and comply with National Central Switch (NCS) certification standards through Software Development Kit (SDK) integration. Geo-tagging of existing terminals was to be completed within 60 days, with compliance validation commencing on 20 October 2025 and full migration by 31 October 2025.