The CBN has ordered banks and payment service providers to adopt the ISO 20022 standard and geo-tag payment terminals by October 31, 2025, with compliance checks beginning October 20.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a new directive mandating banks and other licensed payment operators to fully migrate to the ISO 20022 messaging standard and implement geo-tagging of payment terminals. In a circular dated August 25, 2025, and signed by Rakiya Yusuf, Director of the Payments System Supervision Department, the CBN set October 31, 2025, as the deadline for compliance.
The apex bank stated that compliance checks would commence from October 20, 2025, ahead of the final deadline. According to the directive, “All payment transaction messages exchanged domestically or internationally must be formatted in ISO 20022 in line with CBN and SWIFT specifications.”
It further instructed that “all existing terminals must be geo-tagged within 60 days of this circular; new terminals going forward must be geo-tagged before certification and activation.” The CBN explained that the measure aligns with SWIFT’s global migration timelines previously communicated in 2020.