Bank Customers To Pay 0.5 Percent Cybersecurity Fee To NSA

Commercial bank customers are now to pay 0.5 percent cybersecurity fee for making electronic transfer, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has disclosed.

The Yemi Cardoso-led apex bank made this known on Monday in a circular issued to banks operating in the country.

The directive comes on the heel of complaints by bank customers that transaction charges from their accounts is already to many.

Some customers had on many occasions reported some banks to the CBN for charging various fees from their accounts, the new fee, analysts insist will further generate serious furore from the banking public.

According to the circular sent to banks yesterday, the cybersecurity fee shall be deducted at the point of making electronic transfer and remitted by the banks.

The CBN stated that the circular which is in line with the Cyber security Act of 2015 was a follow-up on an earlier one dated June 25, 2018 (Ref: BPS/DIR/GEN/CIR/05/008) and October 5, 2018. .

Following the enactment of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) (amendment) Act 2024 and under the provision of Section 44 (2)(a) of the Act, a levy of 0.5 per cent (0.005) equivalent to a half per cent of all electronic transactions value by the business specified in the Second Schedule of the Act, is to be remitted to the National Cybersecurity Fund which the Office of the National Security Adviser shall administer, the apex bank said.

The CBN said: “The levy shall be applied at the point of electronic transfer origination, then deducted and remitted by the financial institution. The deducted amount shall be reflected in the customer’s account with the narration, ‘Cybersecurity Levy’.

“Deductions shall commence within two weeks from the date of this circular for all financial institutions and the monthly remittance of the levies collected in bulk to the NCF account domiciled at the CBN by the fifth business day of every subsequent month.”

The implementation of the circular starts in two weeks, the apex ban said warning banks to comply strictly failure of which defaulting banks will pay not less than two per cent of their annual turnover as penalty.