CBN Gives Access, UBA, Zenith New ATM Deadline, Orders Massive Expansion Nationwide
- The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a raft of new guidelines on the deployment of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) nationwide
- The apex bank asked financial institutions and independent operators to make machines more accessible to users
- The new rule allows one ATM for 5,000 cards, a strategy aimed at expanding cash access to users
Pascal Oparada, a reporter for Legit.ng, has over ten years of experience covering technology, energy, stocks, investment, and the economy.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued new draft guidelines mandating banks and independent deployers to expand their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) networks across the country.
The move comes amid growing concerns over limited ATM availability, frequent downtimes, and long queues that have worsened cash access for millions of Nigerians.
Source: Twitter
Banks face strict new targets
The regulation, released in October 2025, seeks to improve ATM density and cash circulation in line with the apex bank’s broader financial inclusion strategy.
It follows recent restrictions on Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals, including a ₦1.2 million daily transaction cap, as part of efforts to sanitise the payments ecosystem.
Under the new rule, banks must deploy at least one ATM for every 5,000 payment cards issued. This sets an ambitious target for financial institutions such as Zenith Bank, Access Bank, and UBA.
For instance, Zenith Bank, which has issued 27.80 million cards to date but operates only 2,142 ATMs, would be required to expand its network to at least 5,561 machines by 2028.
If Nigeria’s 320.05 million active accounts as of March 2025 each had a card, the nation would need roughly 64,000 ATMs to meet the new standard.
To ease implementation, the CBN has outlined a phased compliance timeline: 30% of the required ATMs by 2026, 60% by 2027, and full compliance by 2028.
Bridging the ATM gap
Nigeria’s ATM availability remains one of the lowest in Africa, with only 14 ATMs per 100,000 adults compared to Egypt’s 31, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Meanwhile, reliance on PoS terminals has surged, with 8.36 million registered terminals (5.9 million active) as of March 2025. However, the number of active ATMs dropped to 16,714 in 2024 from 17,377 the year before.
The CBN says the new rules aim to “promote improved access to ATM services in both urban and rural areas,” setting minimum standards for deployment, maintenance, and accessibility.
Accessibility, transparency, and penalties
The draft guideline introduces several consumer-focused reforms. At least 2% of ATMs must have tactile features for the visually impaired, while failed transactions must be refunded within 24 to 48 hours.
Banks are also required to ensure ATMs are well-distributed geographically and always stocked with cash.
To enforce this, institutions must deploy real-time monitoring systems to track cash levels across their ATM networks.
The CBN recently fined nine banks a total of ₦1.35 billion ($926,237) for failing to keep their ATMs loaded with cash—an early sign of stricter enforcement to come.
Balancing costs and access
While the new rules could dramatically improve access to cash, they also pose significant cost implications for banks, especially in rural areas where infrastructure and maintenance expenses are higher.
Industry experts say these costs may be offset by the recent increase in ATM withdrawal fees, approved earlier in 2025.
Source: UGC
The draft guideline is open for public feedback for a period of four weeks. Still, analysts believe the CBN’s direction is clear: to rebalance Nigeria’s payment system by strengthening physical cash access as PoS exclusivity rules tighten in 2026.
Ultimately, the regulation signals the CBN’s intent to reshape how Nigerians access and use cash, ensuring convenience, inclusion, and reliability in the country’s financial ecosystem.
CBN lists Eligibility for operating PoS business
Legit.ng earlier reported that CBN has drawn a hard line in the sand for Nigeria’s Point of Sale (PoS) operators, issuing new eligibility rules that will bar debtors, fraudsters, and financially unstable individuals from the booming agent banking business.
The new guidelines for the Operations of Agent Banking in Nigeria, released on October 6, 2025, represent one of the most sweeping regulatory shakeups in recent years, designed to clean up an industry critical to financial inclusion but increasingly marred by fraud and weak oversight.
According to the CBN, any person or company with a non-performing loan in the past 12 months is automatically disqualified from operating as a PoS agent.
Source: Legit.ng
