The Central Bank of Nigeria has instructed banks operating within the country to levy a cybersecurity fee on transactions, marking a new development in the realm of electronic payments.
In a circular issued by the apex bank on Monday, it was disclosed that the implementation of this levy would commence two weeks from the date of the announcement. This directive applies to all commercial, merchant, non-interest, and payment service banks, among others.
The circular serves as a follow-up to previous communications dated June 25, 2018 (Ref: BPS/DIR/GEN/CIR/05/008) and October 5, 2018 (Ref: BSD/DIR/GEN/LAB/11/023), which emphasized compliance with the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act 2015.
However, certain transactions have been exempted from this levy. These include loan disbursements and repayments, salary payments, intra-account transfers within the same bank or between different banks for the same customer, and intra-bank transfers between customers of the same bank.
Additionally, exemptions extend to inter-branch transfers within a bank, cheque clearing and settlements, Letters of Credits, and banks’ recapitalization-related funding, limited to bulk funds movement from collection accounts, savings, and deposits, including transactions involving long-term investments, among others.
The introduction of this new levy has sparked criticism among Nigerians on social media, who express frustration over the growing number of fees associated with electronic transactions.