CBN imposes 0.5% Levy on Electronic Financial Transactions

The Central Bank of Nigeria has again imposed a 0.5 percent on all electronic financial transactions in order to step up measures to check cybercrimes in the banking sector.

The proceeds of the levy, the bank said ,will be remitted to the National Cybersecurity Fund(NCF) to be managed by the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA).

All financial institutions in the country are to implement this measure in a fortnight , from Monday, May 6, 2024.

According to the apex bank, this deduction applies to all commercial, non-interest and payment services banks.
The proceeds will be used to fund initiatives,to respond to and forestall cyber attacks and thereby raising the bar in the protection of over all banking system security.

In furtherance of this, banks are required to inform and sensitise their customers about the compulsory deductions and its purposes ahead of the take off date.

More specifically, essence of the levy of is to boost the cybersecurity architecture and infrastructure of banks to redouble customers’ financial information security against cyber threats.

This is against the backdrop of losses and lmage damage , suffered by banks at the hands of cyber criminals.

Further more, the Apex bank emphasised that the new levy will consolidate the bank’s cyber security and ward off cyber attacks and as well as enhance financial systems stability in Nigeria.

This is yet another compulsory payments imposed on bank customers like stamp duty payment for every transaction.