The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a fresh directive mandating all participants in the country’s payment ecosystem to complete migration to the ISO 20022 messaging standard and implement mandatory geo-tagging of payment terminals by October 31, 2025.
In a circular published on its official website on Tuesday, the apex bank reminded Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Microfinance Banks (MFBs), Mobile Money Operators (MMOs), Switching and Processing Companies, Payment Terminal Service Providers (PTSPs), Payment Solution Service Providers (PSSPs), Super Agents, and other licensed operators that ISO 20022 is now the global benchmark for payments messaging.
The circular was signed by Dr Rakiya O. Yusuf, Director of the Payments System Supervision Department at the CBN and dated August 25, 2025.
According to the document, the move aligns with SWIFT’s global migration timeline and is intended to standardise quality data across Nigeria’s financial system.
“All payment transaction messages exchanged domestically or internationally must be formatted in ISO 20022 in line with CBN and SWIFT specifications,” the circular noted.
Institutions are also required to ensure accurate population of mandatory data elements, including payer and payee identifiers, merchant and agent identifiers, and transaction metadata.
The CBN stressed that compliance with these requirements is not optional, warning that all in-scope institutions must complete migration activities and achieve full compliance before the October 31 deadline.
Mandatory geo-tagging of terminals
Beyond messaging standards, the circular also introduces mandatory geo-tagging of payment terminals to enhance oversight and curb fraud in the electronic payments space.
All existing and newly deployed payment terminals are required to have native geolocation services enabled, supported by double-frequency GPS receivers. Terminals must also be registered with a Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA) with precise latitude and longitude coordinates tied to merchant business locations.
Also, the CBN mandated that Android OS version 10 is now the minimum software requirement for all terminals to ensure compatibility with the National Central Switch’s geolocation monitoring system.
Terminals not directly routed through a PTSA will not be permitted to transact, while geo-location data is to be captured at the point of transaction and included in the message payload as a mandatory reporting field.
“All existing terminals must be geo-tagged within 60 days of this circular; new terminals going forward must be geo-tagged before certification and activation,” the CBN stated.
Also, the regulator announced that compliance validation exercises will commence from October 20, 2025.
The circular emphasised that these reforms are aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s payments infrastructure, boosting transparency, and aligning with international best practices.
What you should know
ISO 20022 is a global language for financial messaging. It replaces older systems with a modern, data-rich format that allows banks and payment providers to exchange information more clearly and accurately. Instead of short and limited transaction messages, ISO 20022 makes it possible to include more details such as payer and payee identifiers, purpose codes, and full remittance information.
- This helps reduce errors, improves fraud detection, and ensures regulators can monitor transactions more effectively.
- The standard also makes cross-border payments faster and more reliable, aligning Nigeria’s financial system with international best practices.
- Geo-tagging means linking payment terminals like PoS machines to their exact location using GPS coordinates. For the CBN, this is a way to track where terminals are deployed, reduce fraud, and prevent devices from being moved to unauthorised locations.
It also helps regulators identify areas with poor payment coverage and guide policies for financial inclusion. For businesses and customers, geo-tagging provides greater confidence that transactions are being carried out at legitimate and verified locations.
Together, ISO 20022 and geo-tagging are designed to strengthen Nigeria’s payment infrastructure, improve transparency, and support safer and faster transactions.
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