The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has threatened to shut down fintech operators such as Opay,Moniepoint, Palmpay and deposit money banks effective October 20 for failing to Geo-Tag all Point-Of-Sale,POS operators.
The new rule, which applies to both existing and newly deployed devices, will see any non-compliant terminal shut down or deactivated after 60 days.
The CBN explained that the measure is designed to curb fraud, eliminate cloned or “ghost” machines, and ensure real-time monitoring of transactions through the National Central Switch.
All terminals will also require upgrades with built-in GPS and a special software development kit (SDK).
Responsibility for compliance rests with Payment Terminal Service Providers (PTSPs) and mobile money companies.
The latest geo-tagging requirement, observers note, represents one of the toughest crackdowns yet on Nigeria’s fast-growing digital payment sector.
Analysts say the move signals the CBN’s intent to tighten oversight of Nigeria’s booming PoS industry, which already counts more than 4 million active devices and 1.5 million registered agents nationwide.
The apex bank has, in recent years, introduced stricter rules, including mandatory CAC registration for operators and routing of all PoS transactions through licensed aggregators.
The directive, which was issued on 25 August 2025, the apex bank insists PoS terminals must now be linked to exact GPS coordinates and restricted to a 10-metre radius of a merchant’s registered business address.
