Nigeria’s central bank has expanded the permitted operating radius for Point of Sale (PoS) terminals from 10 metres to 70 metres after concerns that the original restriction was too rigid for agents and merchants.
In a May 29, 2026 circular, the CBN also extended the enforcement deadline for the geo-fencing policy to August 1, 2026, giving payment companies more time to comply with the directive first introduced in August 2025.
The revision marks a partial retreat from one of the CBN’s strictest rules in Nigeria’s fast-growing agent banking market, which sought to tightly control where PoS terminals can operate.
Under the rules, operators such as Moniepoint, OPay, and Palmpay must geo-tag all PoS terminals and tie them to precise GPS coordinates, allowing regulators to track where each transaction originates.
The original framework limited terminals to operating within 10 metres of their registered business locations, a restriction designed to curb fraud, identity masking, and the movement of terminals outside registered addresses. The updated rules now expand that radius to 70 metres.
“Evidence of compliance to the above should be addressed to the Director, Payments System Supervision Department via paymentdata@cbn.gov.ng not later than July 31, 2026,” the CBN said in its circular.
The regulator’s push reflects growing concern over the scale and visibility of Nigeria’s PoS ecosystem. Since their 2013 introduction, PoS terminals have become Nigeria’s dominant cash access channel, with about 1,600 PoS agents per square kilometre. There were 8.36 million registered PoS terminals, with 5.90 million active or deployed as of March 2025.
Transactions reached a record ₦10.51 trillion in Q1 2025, a 301.67% increase from Q1 2024. The rapid growth, however, has heightened fraud and compliance concerns, with agents sometimes unknowingly serving as access points for illicit activity.
In 2024, TechCabal first reported that the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) had been tasked with developing a geofencing framework to prevent terminals from being used outside their registered deployment addresses.
The 2025 rule required all payment terminals to be registered with a Payment Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA), either NIBSS or Unified Payment Services Limited, with accurate latitude and longitude coordinates reflecting the merchant or agent’s place of business and operating status.
Terminals not directly routed to a PTSA are not permitted to transact, and operators must ensure their devices and applications are certified by the National Central Switch (NCS).
In its new circular, the CBN asked all financial institutions to resolve all operational issues with the NCS within the stipulated timeline.
