The Central Bank of Nigeria issued a payments system supervision directive requiring licensed payment system operators to migrate to the ISO 20022 messaging standard and implement mandatory geographical identification of payment terminals by 31 October 2025. The circular requires point-of-sale (PoS) devices to be geo-tagged with exact GPS coordinates and to report location data as part of each transaction message. Existing PoS terminals must be geo-tagged within 60 days, fitted with built-in GPS functionality and connected to the National Central Switch, which will monitor locations through a CBN software development kit, while newly deployed devices must be geo-tagged before activation. Geo-location data must be captured at the point of transaction and included in the transaction message payload, and terminals not routed through approved Payment Terminal Service Aggregators will be barred from processing transactions, with compliance checks starting from 20 October 2025. Separately, the CBN published FAQs confirming that irregular undelivered FX forward contracts under the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales were cancelled after a Deloitte forensic audit found irregularities, including fraud or misrepresentation, documentation gaps, illegality and regulatory breaches; no FX payments were made on voided contracts and naira receipts were returned, while valid contracts were honoured totalling USD 7 billion over time, and the CBN is engaging law enforcement and reviewing potential sanctions. Another FAQ restated the Banking Sector Recapitalization Programme, which gives commercial, merchant and non-interest banks 24 months from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2026 to meet revised minimum paid-in common equity capital thresholds using paid-up capital plus share premium.

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