CBN orders banks to apply a 0.5% cyber security fee.
Deposit money banks in Nigeria are now required by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to begin levies on transactions of 0.5% for cybersecurity.
On May 6, 2024, the Apex Bank sent a circular with this information to all commercial, merchant, non-interest, and payment service banks as well as payment service providers and mobile money operators.
The Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act 2024’s Section 44 (2)(a) mandates that “a levy of 0.5% (0.005) equivalent to a half percent of all electronic transactions valued by the business specified in the Second Schedule of the Act” be paid to the Office of the National Security Adviser’s (ONSA) National Cybersecurity Fund (NCF). There is a circular here.
Two weeks following the circular date, the apex bank said, the charge would start.
The charge will be applied by the banking institution at the time of electronic transfer origination, subtracted, and then remitted. The sum that was taken out will show up in the customer’s account under the heading “Cybersecurity Levy.”
All financial institutions are required under the circular to start deductions two weeks after it was issued and to send the monthly levies received in bulk to the NCF account at the CBN by the fifth business day of the following month.
Loan payments and repayments, salary payments, intra-account transfers—within the same bank or between other banks for the same customer—and intra-bank transfers—between customers of the same bank—are not subject to the tax.
Among the other things free from the tax were inter-branch transfers inside a bank, cheque clearing and settlements, letters of credit, money for recapitalization of banks, bulk cash movement from collecting accounts, savings and deposits, and transactions involving long-term investments.
The top bank has lately prohibited fintech companies like Opay and Palmpay from acquiring new clients and mandated that banks withhold 0.375 percent stamp tax on all mortgage-backed bonds and loans.