CBN POS geofencing at 70 metres: what operators must do

It is the last week of July. Your compliance lead has a spreadsheet of terminals, half of them flagged "location mismatch", and a deadline that has already moved three times. Agents keep calling to ask why a terminal that worked yesterday now declines at the corner shop next door.

That is the geofencing rule in practice. Here is where it stands, and what it asks of you.

The short answer

In a circular dated 29 May 2026, the CBN raised the geofence radius for POS terminals from 10 metres to 70 metres. It moved enforcement to 1 Aug 2026, and it asked payment service providers to send evidence of compliance to the Payments System Supervision Department by 31 Jul 2026. A terminal is geo-locked to its registered premises, and it should not work outside that area.

The circular covers banks, mobile money operators, switching companies, payment service providers and other licensed participants. It also tells institutions to resolve open operational issues with the National Central Switch before enforcement.

As of 9 Nov 2026, the enforcement date has passed. The coverage found for this article does not report a further change to the radius or the date. Check the latest CBN circulars before you act on it, because this rule has moved before.

How the rule got here

The timeline explains why operators are tired of it:

1. 25 Aug 2025. A CBN circular (PSS/DIR/PUB/CIR/001/001) required ISO 20022 messaging and made geo-tagging mandatory for payment terminals. The radius was about 10 metres.
2. 6 Oct 2025. A second circular (PSP/DIR/CON/CWO/001/049) set agent location and exclusivity rules, effective 1 Apr 2026. Nairametrics reported a minimum penalty of ₦5 million, plus ₦300,000 for each day of non-compliance, and possible delisting, suspension or blacklisting.
3. 29 May 2026. The radius went from 10 to 70 metres, a 600% increase, after talks with industry. Enforcement moved to 1 Aug 2026.

Operators had argued the 10 metre line was too tight. One AMMBAN official put the wider problem plainly:

"You can't regulate an informal sector effectively from an office desk." Fasasi Sharafadeen, National President, AMMBAN, speaking to Nairametrics.

What the rule asks of an operator

The geofence is one of several linked rules. Read together, they say: know where every terminal is, and know who owns every agent.

• Geo-lock. Every POS terminal used in agent banking is tied to its registered premises. Moving outside the radius means the terminal can be sanctioned.
• One principal. From 1 Apr 2026, an agent works with one principal: a bank, microfinance bank, payment service bank, mobile money operator, or one licensed super agent. TechCabal reported that this ends serving Moniepoint, OPay and PalmPay at once.
• Agent registers. Principals publish and maintain an updated list of their agents, with locations, online and in branches.
• Dedicated account. Agent transactions run through a dedicated agent account or wallet with the principal.
• Limits. The ₦1.2 million daily cap per agent and ₦100,000 per customer apply.
• Relocation. Moving or closing agent premises needs written approval and 30 days' public notice at the location.

A checklist you can run this week

1. Count your terminals by status. Registered, geo-tagged, active, inactive. A terminal you cannot place on a map is a terminal you cannot defend.
2. Compare the registered address with where it actually works. Mismatches are the most common reason a terminal fails the check.
3. Reverify agents. As one Lagos AMMBAN chairman told TechCabal, "Onboarding is just one part; it is reverification that tells us who is active, who isn't, and where they operate".
4. Check your National Central Switch issues. The circular named them as something to fix before enforcement.
5. Keep your evidence. Keep a dated record of what you sent to the Payments System Supervision Department, and when.
6. Plan for declines. Agents whose terminals stop working will call you first. Give support a script, and a way to see why a terminal declined.

The hidden cost

Geofencing pushes the cost of a mismatch onto the operator. Each terminal that fails a location check is a lost sale for the agent, a support call for you, and a reason for the agent to look at the other principal.

Under the one-principal rule that reason is stronger. Chigozie Anayo, a POS ecosystem player, told Nairametrics: "If agents are forced to pick one principal, most fintechs will struggle to retain their current agent base."

The rule favours merchants who stay in one place: a shop, a restaurant, a hotel desk. Their address does not change. Their terminals do not wander. The harder question is what else you give them, so they stay for reasons other than the terminal.

How Jollozi fits a fixed-location merchant

Jollozi runs the business at one address: the till, the table, the guest orders and the owner's view of the day. Payments run through FlashPay, the pay-by-bank system. The guest approves the payment in their own bank app, and the sale marks itself paid on the till. Settlement goes into the merchant's account at the partner bank.

For a payments provider, this is useful in one narrow way. A merchant who sells over a counter at a registered address is the kind the geofence suits. Confirming a transfer on the till, without anyone checking an alert, removes one of the daily frictions that sends merchants shopping for another provider. If you are checking transfers by hand today, the problem is the same one described in how to know a fake transfer alert.

Jollozi does not replace your licence, your terminals or your reporting to the CBN. It is a business system that sits with the merchant and confirms the sale.