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Full List Of Those Exempted From CBN’s 0.5% Cybersecurity Levy
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) earlier issued a directive to banks operating in the country to implement a cybersecurity levy on transactions.
According to a circular released on Monday, May 6, the levy will be enforced starting two weeks from today.
The circular was addressed to all commercial, merchant, non-interest, and payment service banks, among others.
This directive is a continuation of previous letters dated June 25, 2018 (Ref: BPS/DIR/GEN/CIR/05/008) and October 5, 2018 (Ref: BSD/DIR/GEN/LAB/11/023), which emphasized compliance with the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act 2015.
The circular further states that deductions for the levy will begin within two weeks from the date of the circular for all financial institutions. The collected levies are to be remitted in bulk to the NCF account held at the CBN by the fifth business day of each subsequent month.
It is important to note that certain transactions are exempted from this levy, including loan disbursements and repayments, salary payments, intra-account transfers within the same bank or between different banks for the same customer, and intra-bank transfers between customers of the same bank.
Below is the list of exemptions from cybersecurity charges:
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 (OFIs) instructions to their correspondent
6. Banks Interbank placements
7. Banks’ transfers to CBN and vice-versa
8. Inter-branch transfers within a bank
9. Cheques clearing and settlements
10. Letters of Credits (LCs)
11. Banks’ recapitalization-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 Programs transactions e.g. Pension payments
14. Non-profit and charitable transactions, including donations to registered nonprofit organisations or charities.
15. Educational Institutions transactions, including tuition payments and other transaction 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
