Banking shockwave: CBN mandates 0.5% cybersecurity levy on transactions by customers!
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed deposit money banks across the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT to start charging 0.5% cybersecurity levy on transactions.
The apex bank announced this in a circular dated May 6, 2024 to all commercial, merchant, non-interest and payment service banks as well as mobile money operators and payment service providers.
“Following the enactment of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) (amendment) Act 2024 and pursuant to the provision of Section 44 (2) (a) of the Act, ‘a levy of 0.5% (0.005) equivalent to a half percent of all electronic transactions value by the business specified in the Second Schedule of the Act’, is to be remitted to the National Cybersecurity Fund (NCF), which shall be administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA),” the circular said.
The circular also stated that the implementation of the levy would start two weeks from the date of the announcement.
Exempted from the levy include loan disbursements and repayments, salary payments, intra-account transfers within the same bank or between different banks for the same customer, intra-bank transfers between customers of the same bank.
“The levy shall be applied at the point of electronic transfer origination, then deducted and remitted by the financial institution. The deducted amount shall be reflected in the customer’s account with the narration, ‘Cybersecurity Levy’.
“Deductions shall commence within two weeks from the date of this circular for all financial institutions and the monthly remittance of the levies collected in bulk to the NCF account domiciled at the CBN by the fifth business day of every subsequent month,” the circular added.
