CBN raises online transfer limit for individuals, companies

The Central Bank of Nigeria has raised the limit for ‘Highly Secured Online Funds Transfer from N100 million to N250 million for Companies and from N10 million to N25 million for individuals.

This is according to a recently released circular by the Central Bank of Nigeria, signed by Musa I. Jimoh, Director, Payments System Management Department.

This revision would take effect on the operations of the NIBSS Instant Payments System and other Electronic Payment Options with Similar Features in Nigeria.

The CBN stated that NIBSS Instant Payments System and other Electronic Payment Options must “accept indemnity from customers for ‘Highly Secured Online FundsTransfer above N1m for individual and N10m for corporate, subject to a maximum of N25m (Individual) and N250m (Corporate);”

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The CBN told the Payments System operators to “provide customers with the option of electronic or paper indemnity based on the customer’s preference and Implement electronic indemnity with stricter controls requiring biometric verification of identity”

The apex bank also told the online payment operators to adhere to multiple factor authentication (MFA) for ‘Highly Secured Online Funds Transfer.

The Bank added “Inform and educate customers on the use of indemnity to increase transaction limits where applicable.”

Between January and April of this year, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS) reported that transactions totaling N114.8 trillion were completed electronically in Nigeria. The transactions were completed via the NIBSS Instant Payment technology (NIP).

According to NIBSS data, the NIP volume increased by 4% to 1.4 billion in the last four months, up from around 999 million in the same period last year.

The NIP platform had N26.6 billion transactions in January, according to NIBSS data. This represents a 43.7% increase over the N18.5 trillion recorded in the same month the previous year.

Similarly, in February, the electronic platform was used to close deals worth $27.2 billion. This represents a 48.6% increase over February 2021, when N18.3 trillion was recorded.

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Furthermore, in April of this year, the total value of transactions on the NIP platform was N29.2 trillion. This is an increase of 41.6% over the N20.6 trillion recorded in April 2021.