The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has given all Point of Sale (POS) operators 30-day timeline to ensure that all their transactions are routed through licensed payment terminal service aggregators (PTSAs).
The apex bank, in a circular posted on the CBN’s website on Thursday, indicated that the move was aimed at enhancing the tracking and management of electronic transactions in the country.
The circular reads: “As part of efforts to mitigate the concerns regarding channelling all Point of Sale transactions through a single aggregator, the CBN on April 19, 2024, granted a second PTSA licence to Unified Payment Services Limited.
“In furtherance of the above, the CBN hereby directs as follows: 1 Acquirers are henceforth required to route all transactions from PoS terminals at merchant and agent locations, whether on physical or electronic PoS terminals, through any CBN-licensed Payment Terminal Service Aggregator PTSAs are required to send PoS transactions to only Processors certified by the relevant Payment Scheme, nominated by the Acquirer and licensed by CBN.
“To achieve the objective of tracking electronic transactions in Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria in August 2011, granted a Payment Terminal Service Aggregator licence to Payment Terminal Service Aggregator PTSAs as part of efforts to mitigate the concerns regarding channelling all Point of Sale transactions through a single aggregator, the CBN on April 19, 2024, granted a second PTSA licence to Unified Payment Services Limited”, it added.
Also, the CBN clarified that all licensed processors were required to integrate with both PTSAs to give acquirers the flexibility to choose their preferred service providers, adding that payment terminal service providers responsible for deploying and managing PoS terminals must ensure their devices and applications are configured to work with any PTSA chosen by the acquirers.
According to the apex bank, PTSPs are also required to submit monthly reports to the CBN, detailing the number of merchants and agents they manage, as well as the PTSA services used, even as it mandated that each PTSA submit monthly reports of all transactions processed through their platforms.
It directed that such the reports must be submitted to the director of the Payments System Management Department within seven days after the end of each month.
In addition, the CBN charged all PSPs to regularise their operations with the PTSAs within 30 days, warning that non-compliance with the directive would attract appropriate sanctions.
It would be recalled that to support the monetary authorities’ objective of tracking electronic transactions, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) last July directed all POS operators in the country to register in its corporate register before September 5 and has since been enforcing the directive nationwide.
