PoS terminals used outside of a merchant’s registered address will be shut down
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has made a new order that will close PoS devices that are not used within a registered location of a merchant.
On August 25, 2025, the regulator issued a circular that directed all licensed operators, including Moniepoint, OPay, PalmPay, and banks, to geo-tag all PoS terminals within 60 days.
This implies that the millions of PoS terminal devices already deployed by agents and merchants in Nigeria need to be now registered with precise GPS locations of the location where they are being utilized.
The CBN says that the move will be aimed at curbing fraud, preventing the use of cloned or ghost terminals and simplifying the process of monitoring the real-time transactions.
In the new rule, any PoS terminals currently in use will need to be updated to include integrated GPS functionality and linked to the National Central Switch, and this will track locations via a special software development kit (SDK).
The merchants will be permitted to process payments within 10 metres of their registered business address only. Devices that have not been geo-tagged in the time deadline will not be permitted to continue functioning.
This rule also extends to recently deployed PoS devices, which have to be geo-tagged prior to being activated. Payment Terminal Service Providers (PTSPs) and mobile money companies will have the role of enforcing compliance by all devices within their network.
The directive also aims to reduce fraud and unauthorised PoS activity by ensuring each terminal’s location is verified and continuously monitored.
The CBN will begin compliance checks from October 20, 2025, leaving operators with a tight two-month window to upgrade what could amount to over 4 million active terminals nationwide.
The count of PoS terminals and agents has been on the rise with the years. Nigeria had 1.5 million PoS agents as of 2023; that is, one PoS agent per 80 individuals. Another article of Bloomberg also comes out and discloses that Nigeria has 1,600 PoS operators per every square kilometre.
One of the principal reasons why the CBN is coming up with new guidelines in operating PoS agents and terminals is due to the growing number of PoS agents and terminals.
The regulator also requested that PoS transactions should be channeled through licensed Payment Terminal Service Aggregators (PTSA) to enhance tracking and transparency last year. Later the same year, PoS operators were required to get their devices registered at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
The geo-tagging directive signals the CBN’s determination to tighten oversight of Nigeria’s booming PoS industry and clamp down on fraud.
