The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has extended the enforcement deadline for Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminal geo-fencing to August 1, 2026, giving financial institutions and payment service providers additional time to comply with the policy.
The directive was contained in a circular dated May 29, 2026, signed by Rakiya Yusuf, the director of the payments system supervision department.
The circular was addressed to deposit money banks, microfinance banks, mobile money operators, switching and processing companies, payment terminal service providers, payment solution service providers, super agents, and other licensed operators in the financial ecosystem.
According to the CBN, the decision followed stakeholder engagements and operational issues arising from its earlier circular on August 25, 2025, which introduced ISO 20022 migration and mandatory geo-tagging of payment terminals.
The apex bank said, “Further to the Circular with reference number PSS/DIR/PUB/CIR/001/001 dated August 25, 2025 on migration to ISO 20022 standards for payments messaging, mandatory geo-tagging of payment terminals, and various stakeholders’ engagement on the subject to address the operationalisation of the Circular, the Central Bank of Nigeria has considered and approved the following.”
The CBN announced two key changes to the framework.
It stated, “Geo-fence radius is hereby increased from 10 metres to 70 metres,” and added that, “Enforcement of PoS Terminal Geo-fence is extended to August 1, 2026.”
Geo-fencing is a regulatory requirement that restricts PoS terminals to approved geographic locations linked to merchants and agents, aimed at improving transaction monitoring and reducing fraud in the payments system.
The regulator also directed financial institutions to comply ahead of the new deadline, stating, “Evidence of compliance to the above should be addressed to the Director, Payments System Supervision Department via [email protected] not later than July 31, 2026.”
It further instructed operators to resolve outstanding technical and operational issues with the National Central Switch to ensure smooth implementation.
“Financial institutions are required to resolve all operational issues with the National Central Switch within the stipulated timeline to ease compliance,” the circular said.
The extension is expected to provide stakeholders more time to complete system upgrades and align PoS operations with regulatory requirements before full enforcement begins in August.
