16 transactions excluded from CBN’s new cybersecurity levy

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) mandated all banks on Monday to begin imposing a 0.5% cybersecurity levy on all electronic transactions in the country.

The CBN stated this in a circular signed by Chibuzo Efobi, Director of Payments System Management Department, and Haruna Mustafa, Director of Financial Policy and Regulation Department, which Chronicle NG received a copy of.

The circular, which was sent to all commercial, merchant, non-interest, and payment service banks, among others, stated that the charge will go into effect two weeks from Monday, 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,’” the circular partly read.

Below are all the 16 banking transactions that are exempt from the CBN’s new cybersecurity levy:

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 Credit.

11. Banks’ recapitalization-related funding: only bulk funds movement from collection accounts.

12. Savings and deposits, which include long-term assets like Treasury bills, bonds, and commercial papers.

13. Transactions related to government social welfare programmes, such as pension payments.

14. Nonprofit and charity transactions include gifts to registered non-profit organisations or charities.

15. Transactions involving schools, universities, and other educational institutions, including tuition payments.

16. Transactions involving bank internal accounts include suspense accounts, clearing accounts, profit and loss accounts, inter-branch accounts, reserve accounts, nostro and vostro accounts, and escrow accounts.

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