The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed that all Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals in the country be geo-tagged within 60 days as part of a broader push to curb fraud and strengthen oversight of digital payments. The circular, dated late August 2025, says newly deployed terminals must also be geo-tagged before certification and activation.
Under the rule, every terminal must have native geolocation services enabled and be registered with a Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA) using accurate latitude/longitude coordinates for the merchant’s place of business. Geo-location data must be captured at the start of each transaction and included in the transaction message payload; devices operating outside an approved location may be flagged and blocked from transacting.
The circular also establishes a 10-metre permitted geofence around registered merchant locations and sets technical standards for devices, including requirements for GPS capability and compatibility with the National Central Switch geolocation SDK. Operators were told that terminals not routed through an approved PTSA will not be permitted to process payments.
The measure is tied to a wider migration to the ISO 20022 message standard and stronger transaction-level reporting. The CBN said it will begin compliance validation exercises from October 20, with a migration/compliance deadline of October 31 for in-scope institutions — steps the regulator says will align Nigeria’s payments infrastructure with international best practices.
Industry observers warned the change could be operationally challenging for the millions of existing PoS terminals and the agents who run them, who must upgrade software or replace older hardware to meet the new technical requirements. The CBN has asked banks, payment service providers and terminal aggregators to work together to ensure a smooth rollout and to minimise disruption to payment services.
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