Nigerians woke up to the shocking news of CBN new directive of an intended 0.5% cybersecurity levy on all electronic transactions by all banks within Nigeria.
According to many, this will further deepen the hardship already faced by citizens.
In a circular, the central bank of Nigeria (CBN), directed to all commercial, merchant, non-interest, and payment service banks, among others; to start the implementation of the cybersecurity charges after two weeks of the information.
According to the circular signed by the Director, Payments System Management Department, Chibuzo Efobi; and the Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Haruna Mustafa; the cybersecurity would commence two weeks from May 6, 2024.
“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”
However, the CBN exempted 16 banking transactions from the new cybersecurity levy. They are listed below:
CBN EXEMPTION LIST
1. Loan disbursements and repayments
2. Salary payments
3. Intra-account transfers within the same bank or between different banks for the same customer
4. Intra-bank transfers between customers of the same bank
5. Other Financial Institutions instructions to their correspondent banks
6. Interbank placements,
7. Banks’ transfers to CBN and vice-versa
8. Inter-branch transfers within a bank
9. Cheque clearing and settlements
10. Letters of Credits
11. Banks’ recapitalisation-related funding – only bulk funds movement from collection accounts
12. Savings and deposits, including transactions involving long-term investments such as Treasury Bills, Bonds, and Commercial Papers.
13. Government Social Welfare Programmes transactions e.g. Pension payments
14. Non-profit and charitable transactions, including donations to registered non-profit organisations or charities
15. Educational institutions’ transactions, including tuition payments and other transactions involving schools, universities, or other educational institutions
Also Read: CBN Says Currency In Circulation Hits ₦3.87 Trillion Mark
16. Transactions involving bank’s internal accounts such as suspense accounts, clearing accounts, profit and loss accounts, inter-branch accounts, reserve accounts, nostro and vostro accounts, and escrow accounts.
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