CBN Orders OPay, Moniepoint, PalmPay To Geo-Tag PoS Terminals Or Face Shutdown
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered operators, including OPay, Moniepoint, PalmPay and commercial banks, to geo-tag all Point-of-Sale (PoS) devices within 60 days or risk deactivation.
In a directive issued on 25 August 2025, the apex bank said PoS terminals must now be linked to exact GPS coordinates and restricted to a 10-metre radius of a merchant’s registered business address.
The new rule, which applies to both existing and newly deployed devices, will see any non-compliant terminal shut down from 20 October 2025 when enforcement begins.
The CBN explained that the measure is designed to curb fraud, eliminate cloned or “ghost” machines, and ensure real-time monitoring of transactions through the National Central Switch.
All terminals will also require upgrades with built-in GPS and a special software development kit (SDK).
Responsibility for compliance rests with Payment Terminal Service Providers (PTSPs) and mobile money companies.
Analysts say the move signals the CBN’s intent to tighten oversight of Nigeria’s booming PoS industry, which already counts more than 4 million active devices and 1.5 million registered agents nationwide.
The apex bank has, in recent years, introduced stricter rules, including mandatory CAC registration for operators and routing of all PoS transactions through licensed aggregators.
The latest geo-tagging requirement, observers note, represents one of the toughest crackdowns yet on Nigeria’s fast-growing digital payment sector.
