By Chris Ozor
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed banks and other financial institutions in the country to ensure that mobile banking applications operate on only one device per customer at a time.
The directive was issued in a circular to financial institutions and payment service providers as part of additional guidelines to strengthen the operations of instant payments in Nigeria and improve the security of digital banking transactions.
According to the apex bank, the new measure makes device binding mandatory, meaning customers will no longer be able to operate the same mobile banking application simultaneously on multiple devices.
The circular, signed by the Director of the Payments System Policy Department at the CBN, Musa Jimoh, stated that any attempt by a customer to migrate a banking application to another device will automatically trigger a fresh authentication and reactivation process.
The CBN explained that the policy is designed to curb fraud, enhance transaction security and ensure greater stability within the country’s fast-growing digital payments ecosystem.
Under the new guidelines, customers will also have the option to temporarily opt out of instant payment services. However, such requests will require multi-factor authentication to be completed before the request can be approved.
The apex bank noted that customers who choose to opt out of the instant payment service will not be able to conduct online transfers during the period. Such customers will only be able to carry out transfers physically at their banks.
In addition, the CBN said customers may voluntarily adjust their transaction limits, provided the adjustments remain within the existing maximum limits of N25 million for individuals and N250 million for corporate accounts and subject to appropriate risk assessment by financial institutions.
The directive also requires banks to implement enterprise fraud monitoring systems capable of detecting suspicious inflows and outflows in real time.
Furthermore, the CBN said all online account openings and reactivations must undergo liveliness checks and real-time verification using the Bank Verification Number (BVN) and the National Identification Number (NIN) databases.
For newly activated mobile banking applications, the apex bank added that a transaction limit of N20,000 will apply within the first 24 hours as an additional security measure.
The CBN stated that the guidelines represent the minimum standards required for instant payment operations across the country.
According to the regulator, implementation of the new provisions will take effect from July 1, 2026.
