CBN Issues Fresh Guidelines on ATM Operations

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued new guideline and standard for operations of Automated Teller Machines (ATM) services in the country.
The apex bank said in a circular that the purpose of the guideline was to ensure the efficiency of ATM services and convenience as well as protection of customers.
On the standards of operation, the CBN said that all ATM deployers/acquirers shall comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCIDSS), stressing that every ATM operating in the country should be able dispense all denominations of the naira.
It further said that all ATMs shall have audit trail and logs capabilities, comprehensive enough to facilitate investigations, reconciliation and dispute resolution.
On ATM deployment, the apex bank said that although ATM consortia might own ATMs, but such institutions must enter into an agreement with a card scheme or a scheme operator or their designated settlement agent for acceptance and settlement of all transactions at the ATM.
The CBN however pointed out that every ATM transaction in the country shall be processed by a local company operating in Nigeria as acquirer-processor, adding that no card or payment scheme or card association shall compel any issuer or acquirer to send any transaction outside Nigeria for purpose of processing, authorisation or switching, if the transaction was at an ATM or at any acceptance device in Nigeria and the issuer was a Nigerian bank or any other issuer licenced by the CBN.
It further pointed out that any bank or independent organisation that deploys an ATM for public use has to ensure that the ATM downtime (due to technical fault) was not more than seventy-two (72) hours consecutively while the help desk contacts are adequately displayed at the ATM terminals.
Insisting that all ATM surcharges be fully disclosed to customers, the CBN said that there is need to have appropriate monitoring mechanism to determine failure to dispense cash, especially online monitoring mechanism to determine ATM vault cash levels.
The guideline, however, said that any institution which operates an automated teller machine must file an updated list of such ATMs, including the detail location of their addresses with Banking & Payments System Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria for compliance monitoring, adding that the CBN would conduct onsite snap checking of ATMs with a view to ensuring compliance with cash and service availability at the ATMs.