On Monday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a circular directing all financial operators in the country to begin implementation of the Cybersecurity Levy on all electronic transactions.
Per the Circular, financial operators including banks and others will now charge a 0.5% Levy on all electronic transactions.
Exemptions for the new Cybersecurity Levy
However, you may be exempted from paying the Levy if your transaction falls in any of the following categories:
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 (OFIs) instructions to their correspondent banks.
6. Interbank placements
7. Banks’ transfers to CBN and vice-versa 8. Inter-branch transfers within a bank
9. Cheques clearing and settlements 10. Letters of Credits (LCs)
11. Banks’ recapitalization related funding only bulk funds movement from collection accounts
12. Savings and deposits including transactions involving long-term investments such as Treasury Bills, Bonds, and Commercial Papers.
13. Government Social Welfare Programs transactions e.g. Pension payments
14. Non-profit and charitable transactions including donations to registered non-profit organisations or charities.
15. Educational Institutions transactions, including tuition payments and other transaction involving schools, universities, or other educational institutions.
16. Transactions involving bank’s internal accounts such as suspense accounts, clearing accounts, profit and loss accounts, inter-branch accounts, reserve accounts, nostro and vostro accounts, and escrow accounts.
Meanwhile, the Levy removal is scheduled to begin after two weeks from the date of the circular’s release. Hence, Commercial, Merchant, Non-Interest and Payment Service banks and Mobile Money Operators are expected to begin remittances within four weeks. On the other hand, Microfinance, Mortgage banks, and development financial institutions have within eight weeks to begin remittance.
Notably, the Levy is expected to be remitted to the National Cybersecurity Fund (NCF) administered by the National Security Adviser.
