The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has launched a new strategic framework, the Payments System Vision 2028, aimed at transforming the country's digital financial ecosystem. The launch, announced on June 17, 2026, coincides with a series of new directives from the regulator that will significantly reshape the operational landscape for banks and financial technology companies.

A central pillar of the new vision is a mandate for the complete localisation of payments data. The CBN has ordered all banks and fintechs to ensure that all payments system data is hosted within Nigeria by 2027, effectively ending the practice of offshore processing. This directive, described by some analysts as a regulatory masterstroke, is designed to enhance data sovereignty and security within the national financial system.

Alongside the data localisation requirement, the CBN has issued a separate directive compelling financial institutions to disclose their beneficial owners. This move is seen as an effort to increase transparency and combat illicit financial flows. The combined measures represent a concerted push by the central bank to assert greater control over the rapidly expanding digital payments infrastructure, which has seen significant growth driven by local fintech firms like Flutterwave and Paystack.

The policy shift occurs within a broader African regulatory context where central banks are increasingly asserting authority over digital finance. In Ghana, the Bank of Ghana recently ordered financial institutions to cease supporting foreign currency-denominated crypto wallets, citing concerns over currency stability. Meanwhile, in South Africa, the South African Reserve Bank has thrown its support behind the real-time payments platform Payshap, prioritising it over the development of a central bank digital currency, the digital rand, for now.

For Nigerian financial service providers, the immediate operational impact is clear: they must now repatriate and host all payments data on domestic servers. The CBN's decision to end offshore payment processing is framed as a necessary step for national security and economic stability. It also aligns with a growing global trend of data residency requirements, though such mandates can increase operational costs for companies that have relied on international cloud infrastructure.

The Payments System Vision 2028 outlines the CBN's roadmap for the next two years, focusing on fostering innovation while ensuring systemic stability and inclusivity. The success of this vision will depend on the industry's ability to adapt to the new data localisation regime by the 2027 deadline and on the regulator's capacity to enforce these rules without stifling the competitive dynamism that has characterised Nigeria's fintech sector.