Nigerian banks and other payment-industry operators are reassessing their cloud infrastructure as the Central Bank of Nigeria’s January 1, 2027 deadline for payment-data localisation approaches, with split-cloud architecture emerging as one option for meeting the new requirement without moving every application workload to Nigeria.
The CBN issued Circular PSS/DIR/PUB/CIR/001/004 on June 15, 2026. It requires financial institutions and payment participants to ensure that payment transaction data generated within Nigeria is “stored and managed” in Nigeria, in line with applicable Nigerian data-protection requirements. The circular sets January 1, 2027 as the effective date for full compliance and allows the CBN to impose supervisory sanctions for non-compliance.
The requirement covers more than deposit money banks. The circular also applies to microfinance banks, mobile money operators, switching and processing companies, payment terminal service providers, payment solution service providers, super agents and other licensed participants in Nigeria’s payments ecosystem.
Industry concerns have focused on how quickly existing infrastructure can be redesigned without disrupting payment services. With 89 days remaining until the deadline, banks and fintech companies are seeking more clarity over what parts of their technology environments must be located and operated within Nigeria.
FCMB chief technology officer Blessing Ehize said the Committee of Bank CIOs had sought clearer guidance on what the regulator expects institutions to place within local infrastructure and what could remain in hybrid-cloud environments. The group has also called for a clearer implementation roadmap, according to Punch.
eTranzact deputy managing director Hakeem Adeniji-Adele described the migration window as short, particularly because of the volume of data involved. He suggested separating compute and storage migration so that regulated data could be moved to Nigerian infrastructure without necessarily relocating every application workload at the same time.
