The Central Financial institution of Nigeria (CBN) has instructed deposit cash banks and non-bank acquirers to introduce multi-factor authentication for foreign-issued card transactions that exceed $200 every day.
The directive was contained in a round dated December 18 and signed by Rita Sike, director of the monetary coverage and regulation division. The apex financial institution additionally prolonged the authentication requirement to transactions above $500 weekly and $1,000 month-to-month, whereas directing operators to configure point-of-sale (POS) terminals for international card utilization.
Based on the CBN, the coverage is aimed toward making certain easy and environment friendly entry to native foreign money withdrawals, funds and switch providers for customers of international playing cards throughout the nation.
The regulator stated the initiative is designed to develop entry to funds, strengthen transaction safety and enhance consumer expertise for vacationers and Nigerians within the diaspora visiting Nigeria.
Banks ordered to allow worldwide card acceptance
The CBN additional directed banks and non-bank acquirers to configure all automated teller machines (ATMs), POS terminals and digital terminals to simply accept worldwide playing cards by means of Nigerian acquirers. Establishments have been additionally advised to completely adjust to card affiliation requirements and procure the required certifications to help seamless transaction processing.
As well as, monetary establishments have been instructed to make sure steady system availability to keep away from transaction disruptions.
“On this regard, banks and non-bank acquirers shall: implement multi-factor authentication for all withdrawals and on-line transactions exceeding $200 per day, $500 per week, and $1,000 monthly (or its equal),” the round said.
“With respect to ATM money withdrawal transactions, guarantee compliance with permitted money withdrawal limits.
“Clearly talk the relevant alternate fee, which shall be market-driven and primarily based on the prevailing official fee, in addition to different related fees to customers. Transactions ought to solely be accomplished after the consumer has accepted the phrases (with proof obtained).
“Preserve adequate liquidity place to settle transactions.
“Settle transactions for the service provider in native foreign money (naira).
“Implement transaction monitoring to detect uncommon patterns in the usage of international playing cards throughout all terminals.
“Strengthen know-your-customer and anti-money laundering controls for retailers dealing with international card funds.
“Require their retailers to make sure that all their copies of card-present transaction receipts are correctly signed and to request for legitimate identification paperwork the place a transaction seems suspicious.”
The apex financial institution additionally instructed banks and acquirers to report suspicious transactions to the Nigeria Monetary Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and fine-tune fraud monitoring programs to cut back wrongful declines of real transactions.
The round additional mandated that card acceptance units help contactless funds for low-value transactions and that client complaints be resolved inside permitted timelines, warning that unresolved circumstances escalated to the CBN would entice sanctions.
“Moreover, acquirers shall implement and preserve strong, auditable chargeback administration processes aligned with relevant card-scheme guidelines and CBN pointers (together with however not restricted to well timed case consumption, proof collation, refund execution, and post-incident analytics),” the financial institution stated.
“Require, confirm, and retain documentation (together with terminal approval slip and signed service provider receipt, and merchandise/service description) for card transactions to be used in dispute decision and chargebacks. The data shall be retained for no less than 12 months and be readily retrievable inside 24 hours of request by the Acquirer or Scheme.
“Present quarterly coaching to their retailers and agent networks on dispute dealing with and chargeback processes.”
The CBN suggested vacationers and returning Nigerians who expertise difficulties utilizing foreign-issued playing cards to report such incidents to its client safety division by way of [email protected].
The regulator stated compliance with the directive might be carefully monitored, warning that acceptable sanctions might be imposed on establishments that fail to stick to the rules.
