September 12, (THEWILL) – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed all Payment Service Providers (PSPs) to route all transactions from Point of Sale (PoS) terminals at merchant and agent locations (physical or electronic) through an approved CBN Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA).
The apex bank, in a circular signed by Oladimeji Yisa Taiwo on behalf of the CBN’s Payments System Management Department, directed that all PoS transactions from merchant and agent locations must now be routed through any CBN-licensed PTSA.
It also issued a 30-day deadline requiring service providers to comply with enhanced routing guidelines for PoS transactions.
The directive follows the expiration of the September 5 deadline for PoS agents to formally register their businesses with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
The circular 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.
“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.”
This, the apex bank said, aims to strengthen the monitoring of electronic transactions across Nigeria and decentralise PoS transaction routing, addressing concerns about the centralisation of such transactions under a single entity.
