CBN DIRECTS BANKS TO IMPLEMENT 0.5% CYBERSECURITY LEVY ON TRANSACTIONS
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Deposit money banks in the nation are mandated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to impose a 0.5% cybersecurity charge on all transactions.
All commercial, merchant, non-interest, and payment service banks, as well as mobile money operators and payment service providers, received a circular from the apex bank on May 6, 2024, which included this information.
“Following the enactment of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) (amendment) Act 2024 and pursuant to the provision of Section 44 (2) (a) of the Act, ‘a levy of 0.5% (0.005) equivalent to a half percent of all electronic transactions value by the business specified in the Second Schedule of the Act’, is to be remitted to the National Cybersecurity Fund (NCF), which shall be administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA),” the circular partly read.
The apex bank said that the implementation of the levy would start two weeks from the date of the circular.
“The levy shall be applied at the point of electronic transfer origination, then deducted and remitted by the financial institution. The deducted amount shall be reflected in the customer’s account with the narration, ‘Cybersecurity Levy’.
“Deductions shall commence within two weeks from the date of this circular for all financial institutions and the monthly remittance of the levies collected in bulk to the NCF account domiciled at the CBN by the fifth business day of every subsequent month,” the circular added.
The following are exempt from the levy: salary payments, loan disbursements and repayments, intra-bank transfers between clients of the same bank, and intra-account transfers within the same bank or between other banks for the same customer.
Interbranch transfers within banks, check clearing and settlements, letters of credit, bulk fund movements from collection accounts, savings and deposits, including long-term investment transactions, and banks’ recapitalization-related funding were among the other items excluded from the levy.
The top bank has ordered banks to deduct 0.375 percent stamp duty from all mortgage-backed bonds and loans, and it has prohibited fintech companies such as Opay and Palmpay from accepting new clients.
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