The Central Bank of Nigeria has issued a 30-day timeline for Payment Service Operators (PSP) to channel all Point of Sales (POS) transactions through the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) or Unified Payment Services Limited (UPSL).
The apex bank issued the directive on Thursday in a circular obtained by NewsNGR.
The apex bank believes that adhering to the directive would lead to a more transparent tracking of POS transactions.
The CBN said, “To achieve the objective of tracking electronic transactions in Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria in August 2011, granted a Payment Terminal Service Aggregator license to Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Plc.
“As part of efforts to mitigate the concerns regarding channeling all Point of Sale transactions through a single aggregator, the CBN on April 19, 2024, granted a second PTSA license to Unified Payment Services Limited.”
In the fresh directive, CBN ordered PSPs to route all the transactions through either NIBSS or UPSL.
CBN said, “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.
“All licensed Processors must be integrated with both PTSAs, thereby allowing Acquirers the flexibility to choose which Processor(s) and PTSA to utilize.”
According to the apex bank, all Payment Terminal Service Provider (PTSPs) must ensure that their PoS devices and applications are configured to route transactions through any PTSA, as directed by the acquirer.
The CBN noted that all PTSPs will submit monthly returns to it detailing the number of merchants and agents they manage, along with the PTSA services used to route the corresponding transactions.
“Each PTSA is required to submit monthly returns to the CBN, detailing all transactions processed through their platforms,” it added.
According to the central bank, they are expected to submit the returns to the Director, Payments System Management Department, not later than seven days after the end of each month.