The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has capped transactions on newly activated mobile banking applications at N20,000 within the first 24 hours of activation, as part of new measures aimed at strengthening security in Nigeria’s instant payment system.

The directive, issued in a circular dated March 12, 2026 and addressed to banks, other financial institutions, and payment service providers, forms part of additional safeguards introduced by the apex bank to curb fraud and improve the resilience of digital payment channels.

Implementation of the new provisions will take effect from July 1, 2026, giving banks and payment service providers time to align their systems with the updated requirements.

Under the new rules, financial institutions must impose transaction limits on newly activated mobile financial service applications during the first 24 hours of activation. The limit, which will apply to both inflows and outflows for newly opened accounts, must not exceed N20,000, although banks may set lower thresholds based on their internal risk frameworks.

For existing customers activating mobile banking applications on a new device, the CBN directed banks to impose an outflow transaction limit for the first 24 hours, also capped at N20,000.

The regulator said the move is designed to mitigate risks associated with account takeover, identity theft and unauthorised device migration, which have become increasingly common as digital financial services expand across the country.

In addition, the CBN introduced mandatory device binding for mobile banking applications, requiring customers to operate their banking app on only one device at a time. Customers will no longer be allowed to use mobile banking applications concurrently across multiple devices.

Migration to a new device will automatically trigger a fresh authentication and reactivation process to verify the identity of the account holder.

The apex bank also directed financial institutions to enforce additional multi-factor authentication for first-time logins to internet banking platforms on new devices.

Beyond device restrictions, the circular requires all financial institutions to deploy enterprise fraud monitoring systems capable of tracking both incoming and outgoing transactions in real time. The monitoring systems are expected to enable banks to detect suspicious activity early and restrict potentially fraudulent transactions.

The CBN also tightened requirements for online account opening and reactivation processes. It said accounts opened digitally must undergo liveliness checks to confirm that the individual initiating the process is physically present.

All online account opening and account reactivation processes must also be validated in real time with the Bank Verification Number and National Identity Number databases.

Financial institutions were further directed to adopt enhanced authentication mechanisms such as biometric verification, soft tokens, hard tokens and other multi-factor authentication controls for online account reactivation.

Customers Get Option to Opt Out of Instant Transfers

The CBN also introduced a voluntary opt-out and opt-in feature for instant payment services, allowing customers to temporarily disable instant transfers on their accounts.

Under the rule, customers will be able to opt out of instant payment services at any time and for any period of their choice, subject to multi-factor authentication.

When a customer activates the opt-out option, online instant transfers, both within the same bank and across banks will be disabled. However, customers will still be able to carry out transfers by visiting their financial institution physically.

The default setting for new customers will remain opt-in upon account onboarding.

The circular also allows customers to voluntarily adjust their transaction limits within the existing maximum thresholds of N25 million for individuals and N250 million for corporate accounts. Any adjustment must undergo enhanced due diligence and risk assessment by the financial institution before taking effect.

According to the CBN, the measures represent the minimum operational standards for instant payment services in Nigeria’s financial system. (BusinessDay)

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