CBN Introduces New Security Features For Instant Payments From July 1

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a new circular introducing additional security and operational requirements for instant payment services across banks and other financial institutions, as part of efforts to strengthen fraud monitoring and safeguard Nigeria’s payment system.

In the circular addressed to banks, other financial institutions and payment service providers, the apex bank said the new measures were issued “in line with its mandate of promoting financial system stability.”

Implementation of the provisions is to take effect from July 1, 2026, according to the circular signed by Director of Payment System Management Department, Musa I. Jimoh.

According to the CBN, all financial institutions offering instant payment services must introduce new functionalities that allow customers greater control over their transactions while strengthening security checks across digital banking channels.

One of the new provisions allows customers to voluntarily opt in or opt out of instant payment services. “Customers shall have the option to opt-out of / opt-in to IP service at any time and for any given period. This process shall be subject to Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) control. Default setting shall be Opt-in upon on-boarding a new customer.”

The circular explained that when customers choose the opt-out option, they will be unable to carry out online instant transfers. “In the opt-out mode, a customer shall not be able to carry out online instant transfer of funds (intra or inter) from his/her account to another customer. However, customer can physically visit the financial institution to effect transfer,” the apex bank said.

The CBN also introduced a voluntary transaction limit feature, allowing customers to adjust their transfer limits within existing thresholds of N25 million for individuals and N250 million for corporate accounts. It noted that any adjustment would be subject to enhanced due diligence by financial institutions.

“Any such adjustment shall be subject to enhanced due diligence and appropriate risk assessment by the financial institution. The new transaction limit shall take effect immediately upon successful completion of multi-factor authentication (customer consent),” the circular stated.

To strengthen fraud prevention, the CBN directed all financial institutions to implement enterprise fraud monitoring systems covering both incoming and outgoing transactions.

“All FIs shall implement and activate Enterprise Fraud Monitoring for both inflows and outflows to facilitate fraud detection and restriction of suspicious transactions,” it said.

The apex bank also introduced stricter requirements for online account opening and reactivation, including mandatory real-time validation with identity databases. According to the circular, “Accounts opened online shall be subjected to liveliness check, while all online account opening or reactivation shall be validated in real time with the BVN/NIN database.”

Additional security measures were also introduced for mobile banking applications, including mandatory device binding. “Mobile financial services applications shall only be enabled on one device at a time, and customers cannot operate the apps concurrently on multiple devices,” the CBN said.

It added that migration to another device would trigger automatic reactivation and authentication.

The regulator further directed banks to impose transaction limits on newly activated mobile banking applications for the first 24 hours. For both new and existing accounts, the circular said the transaction limit during this period must not exceed N20,000.