With Cybersecurity Levy, it will cost about N135 to transfer N10,000

With the addition of the Cybersecurity Levy, it will cost N80.88 to transfer N10,000 and N54 to receive it as per the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policies, reducing the real value exchanged to N9,865.

The fees are in line with the CBN-reviewed charges and fees for banking services in its updated Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial, and Non-bank Financial Institutions which took effect on January 1, 2020.

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday ordered banks operating in Nigeria to begin charging a 0.5 percent cybersecurity levy on transactions by the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Amendment Act of 2024.

The CBN had warned that any financial institution that breaches any of the provisions as contained in the guide will pay a penalty of N2 million per infraction or as may be determined subsequently by the apex bank.

However, to avoid multiple applications of the levy on the same transaction/transfer, the following transactions are exempt:

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 instructions to their correspondent banks.
6. Interbank placements.
7. Banks’ transfers to CBN and vice-versa.
8. Inter-branch transfers within a bank.
9. Cheque clearing and settlements.
10. Letters of Credits.
11. Banks’ recapitalisation-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 Programmes transactions e.g. Pension payments.
14. Non-profit and charitable transactions, including donations to registered non-profit organizations or charities.
15. Educational institutions’ transactions, including tuition payments and other transactions involving schools, universities, or other educational institutions.
16. Transactions involving the 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.