The Central Bank of Nigeria has mandated banks and fintechs to install GPS tracking on all PoS machines within 60 days, aiming to curb fraud and improve payment oversight
CBN Orders GPS Tracking on All PoS Terminals to Curb Fraud, Enhance Oversight
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed banks, fintech companies, and other licensed payment operators to install GPS tracking systems on all Point of Sale (PoS) terminals as part of new measures to strengthen oversight of electronic transactions.
The directive, contained in a circular dated August 25 and signed by Rakiya Yusuf, Director of the Payments System Supervision Department, mandates that all PoS devices must have “native geo-location services enabled, with Double-Frequency GPS receivers for reliable geo-location service.”
According to the guidelines, each terminal must be registered with a payment terminal service aggregator (PTSA) and tied to accurate coordinates of the merchant or agent’s business location. The new rules mean PoS devices must capture and transmit their location data at the start of every transaction.
Transactions initiated outside a 10-metre radius of the registered business point will be flagged, while terminals that are not geo-tagged will be barred from processing payments.
“All existing terminals must be geo-tagged within 60 days of this circular, while new terminals must be tagged before certification and activation,” the CBN stated. “Geo-location data must be captured at transaction initiation and included in the message payload as a mandatory reporting field: Terminals not directly routed to a PTSA are not permitted to transact.”
The directive comes amid a rapid rise in PoS usage across Nigeria, where cash scarcity, reduced ATM availability, and fewer bank branches have fueled reliance on PoS operators for daily transactions. However, this boom has also heightened risks, with fraud cases increasing and security officials warning that kidnappers sometimes exploit PoS machines to collect ransom payments.
In addition, the CBN ordered payment companies to adopt ISO 20022, a new global messaging standard developed by SWIFT, by October 31. The regulator said the standard will improve transaction data quality, boost transparency, and enhance the security and efficiency of both domestic and cross-border payments. Read More
