The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and Payment Service Providers (PSBs) to separate all transactions that would normally be categorised as bulk payment upon transactions.
The apex bank gave this order in a circular signed by the Director, Payments System Management Department, Musa Jimoh, and published on its website.
The circular reads, in part: “The Central Bank of Nigeria has noticed the inherent problems associated with the processing of bulk transfers by banks and payment service providers. Currently, originating banks and PSPs pass a single debit entry through the initiating customers’ account and multiple credits to beneficiaries without adequate records of the credit entries in their system. This distorts the audit trail and hampers transparency.
“In order to address this challenge, the CBN hereby directs that all end-to-end bulk payments or transfers shall henceforth be processed on the platforms of banks or PSPs for their customers with a detailed breakdown of the accounts that receive the credits retained in the custody of the sender’s banks”, CBN added.
It added that the directive was given as part of its sustained efforts to ensure transparency and clarity for auditing within the banking system and advised the banks and PSBs to comply with the directive and all other payment system regulations.
