Data Localisation: 57% Of Banks Ready As CBN Sets January 2027 Deadline

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) have disclosed that 57 per cent of financial institutions surveyed are ready to comply with Nigeria’s payment data localisation policy ahead of the January 1, 2027 deadline.

The regulators said efforts were ongoing to ensure full compliance across the financial sector, warning that institutions that deliberately fail to meet the requirements could face sanctions.

The Director of the CBN’s Payment System Supervision Department, Dr Rakiya Yusuf, and the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, disclosed this on Wednesday at an Executive Regulatory Dialogue on the National Sovereign Cloud Initiative (NSCI) and Data Localisation Implementation in Lagos.

The engagement brought together regulators and industry operators to discuss implementation challenges, compliance requirements and measures to ensure that payment data generated in Nigeria is stored locally.

Yusuf said a survey conducted by the regulators showed that more than half of the financial institutions assessed were prepared to meet the deadline, while the remaining institutions were expected to address outstanding gaps before January 2027.

“The survey that we also put forward to be able to generate some data has shown us that more than 50 per cent of the industry are ready to comply, and the remaining less than 40 per cent, will be able to build on what they have. And ultimately, we are looking forward to January 2027, that everyone will be on board to have payments data localised,” she said.