The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has introduced a cybersecurity levy on electronic transactions to bolster the nation’s cyber defenses.
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However, to alleviate the impact on certain transactions, the CBN has listed 16 exemptions.
Okay.ng provides a detailed breakdown of these exemptions and answers the most asked questions in a structured format for SEO purposes.
What is the Cybersecurity Levy?
- Definition: A 0.5% levy imposed on electronic transactions to fund cybersecurity initiatives.
Who is Exempt from the Levy?
- Exempt Transactions: Certain transactions are exempt to prevent undue burden on specific sectors and activities.
Detailed List of Exempt Transactions
- Loan disbursements and repayments
- Salary payments
- Intra-account transfers within the same bank or between different banks for the same customer
- Intra-bank transfers between customers of the same bank
- Other financial institutions (OFIs) instructions to their correspondent banks
- Interbank placements
- Banks’ transfers to CBN and vice-versa
- Inter-branch transfers within a bank
- Cheques clearing and settlements
- Letters of credits (LCs)
- Banks recapitalisation related funding only bulk funds movement from collection accounts
- Savings and deposits including transactions involving long-term investments such as treasury bills, bonds, and commercial papers.
- Government social welfare programmes transactions e.g. pension payments.
- Non-profit and charitable transactions including donations to registered non-profit organisations or charities.
- Educational institutions transactions, including tuition payments and other transactions involving schools, universities, or other educational institutions.
- Transactions involving 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.
