BY ADERONKE ALEX-ADEDIPE AND OMODELE FATODU

INTRODUCTION

In a circular dated August 25,2025, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a directive mandating the geo-tagging of all Point-of-Sale (PoS) Terminals in Nigeria and that electronic payment messaging adopt the ISO 20022 standard by October 31, 2025. This means that every PoS device in Nigeria must be fitted with GPS capability so its exact, physical location can be identified, and that all electronic payment messages must follow a globally recognized standard for financial messaging (ISO 20022) that uses a single, structured data language to enable richer, interoperable and more accurate payment information.

This directive by the CBN aims to enhance transaction security, reduce fraud, and improve traceability. By linking each PoS terminal to precise geographic coordinates, the CBN ensures that every electronic transaction can be tied to a verifiable physical location.

This directive applies to financial service providers including commercial and microfinance banks that deploy or manage PoS networks, mobile money operators, payment service providers, merchants, agents, and retailers who accept card payments through PoS terminals.

Key Requirements

  1. PoS Registration – all devices must be registered with a Payment Terminal Service Aggregator with accurate latitude and longitude coordinates indicating the Merchant’s place of business and service status.
  2. Operational Radius – each PoS Terminal may operate only within a 10-metre radius of its registered location. Any activity outside this range will be flagged.
  3. Adoption of the ISO 20022 Standard – all domestic and international payment messages must conform to the ISO 20022 standard, a global financial messaging standard which provides for faster processing of payments, enables robust fraud-detection, and improves the traceability of transactions by the October 31, 2025 deadline.
  4. Geo-Tagging of PoS Terminals – All existing and newly deployed PoS Terminals must have native geolocation services enabled.
  5. Certification with the National Central Switch (NCS) – The NCS is the switching infrastructure operated by the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS). It enables electronic payment interoperability and connectivity between various financial institutions, payment service providers, and payment terminals. All operators are to ensure that every PoS Terminal and its software is tested and approved on the NIBSS Central Switch to ensure that they meet the technical, security, and interoperability standards before they can go live. PoS Terminals are now mandated to include the NCS Software Development Kit for Geolocation monitoring and Geofencing implemented within its application libraries.
  6. Implementation timeline – All existing PoS Terminals must be geo-tagged within 60 days of the circular, while new PoS Terminals must be geo-tagged before certification and activation. Operators much update each PoS Terminal’s software to enable the automatic capture and transmission of location data and replace any devices which are not compatible with geo-tagging software.
  7. Mandatory Geo-reporting – The PoS Terminal itself must automatically capture and transmit the GPS location at the point a transaction is initiated, embedding it in the message payload for compliance monitoring.

As the CBN will begin compliance checks on October 20, 2025, banks, fintech operators, and merchants are required to immediately audit their PoS Terminals and networks, upgrade or replace non-compliant devices. Merchants and agents should ensure that PoS Terminals stay within the permitted range at their registered address to avoid potential disruption of PoS

Terminal operation by the CBN.