Victor Ezeja
In its quest to deepen implementation of cashless policy, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has set a daily transaction limit of N1.2 million for Point of Sales (PoS) agents across the country.
The apex bank stated this in a circular released Tuesday signed by Oladimeji Yisa Taiwo for the Director, Payments System Management Department.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAccording to the circular titled ‘Circular on Cash-Out Limits for Agent Banking Transactions,’ the CBN said the policy interventions have become necessary to enhance the use of electronic payment channels for agency banking operations in the country.
It further stated that “these interventions aim to address identified challenges, combat fraud and establish uniform operational standards across the industry.”
This fresh policy guidelines on agency banking operations comes at a time PoS financial services have become more popular in both rural and urban centres, giving people more access to cash (at specific fees depending on the amount), more than traditional commercial banks.
Agent banking in Nigeria is a system that allows third parties to provide banking or financial services such as deposits and withdrawals to the public. This model was adopted to help Nigeria in achieving its financial inclusion goals.
According to data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), PoS terminals deployed across Nigeria surged to 3.04 million as of July 2024, indicating a 32 per cent increase when compared to the previous year. This reflects the country’s increasing reliance on cashless transactions as the value of PoS transactions jumped from N930.76 billion in June to N1.01 trillion in July 2024.
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While the total number of registered PoS machines stands at 4.06 million, 1.02 million terminals remain either un-deployed or inactive.
Aside from agents’ daily cumulative cash-out limit of N1.2 million, the CBN’s new policy guideline also set a cash withdrawal limit per customer (irrespective of channel) at N500,000 per week. It also required all agent banking terminals to set a daily maximum transaction cash-out limit of N100,000 per customer.
The new CBN policy on agent banking transactions also requires that agent terminals must be connected to Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA).
It also mandated all principals of agents to “ensure that agency banking activities are consummated exclusively through agent float accounts maintained with the principals;
“Monitor accounts associated with the agents’ BVN(S) with a view to identifying agent banking activities which may be conducted outside the designated float account(s); Ensure that all agent terminals are connected to a PTSA;
“Ensure that all daily transactions per agent, including withdrawals, limits of transactions and balances in the float accounts of each agent, are sent electronically to NIBSS as a report to the CBN. The template of this report will be sent to principals.”
It warned that as stated in the Guidelines for the Regulation of Agent Banking services in Nigeria, principals shall be wholly responsible and liable for all actions of their agents.
The circular also indicated that the CBN will regularly conduct oversight to ensure that all principals and their agents comply with the policy directives, adding that “Any breach of the directives contained in this Circular shall attract appropriate penalties including monetary and/or administrative sanctions.”
