The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has rolled out fresh operational guidelines requiring banks and non-bank acquirers to upgrade their ATMs, POS terminals, and virtual payment platforms to support seamless transactions with foreign-issued cards nationwide.
The new directives, issued through a circular signed by the Director of Financial Policy and Regulation, Dr Rita Sike, are aimed at improving transaction reliability, enhancing fraud control, and aligning Nigeria’s payment infrastructure with international card scheme standards.
As part of the framework, the apex bank ordered the introduction of multi-factor authentication for higher-value foreign card transactions.
“In this regard, banks and non-bank acquirers shall: implement multi-factor authentication for all withdrawals and online transactions exceeding $200 per day, $500 per week, and $1,000 per month (or its equivalent),” the circular stated.
The CBN also reinforced compliance with existing cash withdrawal thresholds and insisted on transparency in pricing and exchange rate disclosures.
“With respect to ATM cash withdrawal transactions, ensure compliance with approved cash withdrawal limits.
“Clearly communicate the applicable exchange rate, which shall be market-driven and based on the prevailing official rate, as well as other associated charges to users.
“Transactions should only be completed after the user has accepted the terms (with evidence obtained),” it said.
In addition, financial institutions were directed to ensure prompt settlement of transactions, sustain adequate liquidity, and intensify oversight of foreign card usage.
“Maintain sufficient liquidity position to settle transactions. Settle transactions for the merchant in local currency (naira).
“Implement transaction monitoring to detect unusual patterns in the use of foreign cards across all terminals.”
The circular also mandated stricter know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) checks for merchants handling international card payments.
“Strengthen know-your-customer and anti-money laundering controls for merchants handling foreign card payments.
“Require their merchants to ensure that all their copies of card-present transaction receipts are properly signed and to request for valid identity documents where a transaction appears suspicious.”
The regulator further required all card acceptance devices to support contactless payments for low-value transactions, while insisting on timely resolution of consumer complaints.
“Furthermore, acquirers shall implement and maintain robust, auditable chargeback management processes aligned with applicable card-scheme rules and CBN guidelines (including but not limited to timely case intake, evidence collation, refund execution, and post-incident analytics),” the statement said.
“Require, verify, and retain documentation (including terminal approval slip and signed merchant receipt, and item/service description) for card transactions for use in dispute resolution and chargebacks.
“The records shall be retained for a minimum of 12 months and be readily retrievable within 24 hours of request by the Acquirer or Scheme.
“Provide quarterly training to their merchants and agent networks on dispute handling and chargeback processes.”
The CBN also instructed banks and acquirers to report suspicious transactions to the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and fine-tune fraud detection systems to reduce failed legitimate transactions.
To strengthen consumer protection, the apex bank advised foreign card users who experience transaction difficulties to escalate complaints to its Consumer Protection Department through complaint4cbn@cbn.gov.ng.
