CBN Imposes Cybersecurity Charge On Bank Transactions, Funds To Be Remitted To NSA

A cybersecurity levy has been ordered by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to be charged on all electronic transfers.

The CBN who gave the order to all banks operating in the country in a circular on Monday disclosed that the implementation of the levy would start in the next two weeks.

The apex bank directed the circular to all commercial, merchant, non-interest and payment service banks, among others.

READ: Customers Panic As CBN Bans Moniepoint, Opay, Kuda, Others

The circular revealed that it was a follow-up on an earlier letter dated June 25, 2018 (Ref: BPS/DIR/GEN/CIR/05/008) and October 5, 2018 (Ref: BSD/DIR/GEN/LAB/11/023), respectively, on compliance with the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act 2015.

The recent public engagements by the Office of the National Security Adviser on the above subject, also refers.

In the circular signed by the Director of Payments System Management Department of the CBN, Chibuzo Efobi; and the Director of Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Haruna Mustafa, the banks are mandated to remit the monies to the National Cybersecurity Fund (NCF), which would be administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

It emphasised that failure to remit the fees is an offence as stated in Section 44 (8) of the Act and will attract a conviction of not less than 2 per cent of the annual turnover of the defaulting business, amongst others.

“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 per cent 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, which shall be administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser,” a part of the notice said.

“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 amount with the narration: cybersecurity levy.

“Deduction 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 5th business day of every subsequent month.

“System reconfiguration towards ensuring complete and timely submission of the remittance flies to the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) Plc shall be completed within four weeks of this circular for commercial, merchant, non-interest and Payment Service Banks (PSBs) and mobile money operators, and within eight weeks for all Other Financial Institutions like Microfinance Banks, Primary Mortgage Banks, and Development Finance Institutions,” the circular further said.

Following the enactment of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) (amendment) Act 2024 and under the provision of Section 44 (2)(a) of the Act, a levy of 0.5 per cent (0.005) equivalent to a half per cent 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 which shall be administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser.

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.

Also exempted from the levy were inter-branch transfers within a bank, cheque clearing and settlements, ⁠Letters of Credits, ⁠Banks’ recapitalisation-related funding only bulk funds movement from collection accounts, savings and deposits including transactions involving long-term investments, among others.