NIGERIA — The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a directive to all Payment Service Providers to route transactions from Point of Sale (PoS) terminals through an approved CBN-licensed Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA).
According to CBN, the directive is to enhance the monitoring and decentralisation of electronic transactions across Nigeria, and to address concerns about the centralisation of PoS transaction routing.
In the circular issued on Thursday, the apex bank announced a 30-day compliance deadline for service providers to adhere to the new routing guidelines. The circular stated that PoS transactions from merchant and agent locations must now be routed through any PTSA licensed by the CBN.
The directive reads, “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 Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Plc. “In furtherance of the above, the CBN hereby directs acquirers 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.”
Additionally, the circular specifies that “PTSAs are required to send PoS transactions to only processors certified by the relevant Payment Scheme, nominated by the Acquirer, and licensed by the CBN.”
Source: News Agencies
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