Nigeria: banks and fintechs must host payments data inside the country from 1 January 2027, the central bank has directed

Nigeria: banks and fintechs must host payments data inside the country from 1 January 2027, the central bank has directed

30 September 2026 — The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed banks and fintech companies to make sure that payments data currently hosted outside Nigeria "is domiciled within the country from January 1, 2027", according to a report by Techeconomy on 30 September 2026. The directive was discussed at a panel at the first GrowthX by Techeconomy conference in Lagos. There, Blessing Ehize, chief technology officer of First City Monument Bank (FCMB), welcomed the policy's aim and asked for more implementation detail.

What the industry is asking for

Speaking for the sector, Mr Ehize said banks are "committed to supporting the objectives of the policy", but that clearer guidance would help them plan. The areas he named are:

• Hosting requirements: what counts as hosting in Nigeria.
• Categories of data: how specific categories of payments data are treated.
• Hybrid cloud: how environments that split workloads between local and foreign cloud regions are treated.
• A roadmap: a phased plan with milestones, so institutions can build structured transition plans.

Why it matters for technology buyers

Many Nigerian banks, payment service providers and fintechs run core payment systems, fraud engines, analytics or backups on international cloud regions or with foreign SaaS vendors. A localisation deadline changes the choice of suppliers:

• which cloud regions and data centres qualify;
• whether managed services and SaaS tools that store payments data abroad can still be used;
• what contracts with processors and outsourcers must say about where data sits.

Not yet independently verified. The CBN circular itself has not been found on the central bank’s website: its date, reference number, the exact categories of payments data covered and any penalties are taken from industry reports, and the date of 1 January 2027 rests on them. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

What to do

• Map where every category of payments data is stored and processed today, including backups, logs and analytics copies held by vendors.
• Ask cloud and SaaS suppliers whether they offer hosting in Nigeria and on what timetable.
• Watch the CBN's circulars page for the directive and any implementation guidance, and plan the migration so it is complete before 1 January 2027.

Sources

• Techeconomy: FCMB CTO on the CBN payments data localisation directive (GrowthX by Techeconomy, Lagos) — 30 September 2026