Yesterday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said it would henceforth sanction banks and other financial institutions that violate the regulations guiding end-to-end Electronic Payment of Salaries, Pensions and Other Remittances, Suppliers and revenue collections in Nigeria.
The apex bank disclosed this in a circular to all Deposit Money Banks, Other Financial Institutions and the general public on, ‘Exposure draft for the regulation on end-to-end electronic payment of salaries, pensions and other remittances, suppliers and revenue collections in Nigeria, revised 2018’ on Tuesday.
The draft guideline was signed by CBN’s Director of Payments System Management Department, Samuel Chukwuyem Okojere.
What the guidelines say
The new guideline stated that the objective of the end-to-end electronic payment of salaries, pensions, suppliers and taxes initiative was fully aligned with the core objectives of the National Payment Systems Vision 2020, which was to ensure the availability of safe, effective and efficient mechanisms for conveniently making and receiving all types of payments from any location and at any time, through multiple electronic channels.
It also stated,
“Non-provision of monthly report on end-to-end e-payment of salaries, pensions, suppliers & taxes to the CBN attracts N5,000 penalty for each day for which report is not provided to the CBN. Submission of false or in accurate reports attracts N250,000 fines and a warning letter to the Managing Director (MD).
“The use of third party e-payment solution not approved by CBN attracts fine of N2.5 million for a DMB and N1 million for an OFIs on every repeated occurrence, as well as termination of the use of the unapproved end-to-end e-payment solution, and warning letter to the Managing Director.”
E-payment system in Nigeria
Over the years, electronic payment system – often referred to as e-payment system – has grown to become the most acceptable process of settlement of financial transactions in all sectors of the economy.
One of the most common forms of e-payment used in Nigeria is the Automated teller machine (ATM). In the third quarter of 2018, it recorded 220.27 million transactions, amount to N1.15 trillion.
