Bank Transfer Charges in Nigeria: What You Are Actually Paying

When you send money from one Nigerian bank to another, two distinct deductions can apply. They are often confused, and both were changed in 2026.

The transfer fee

This is what the bank charges for moving the money. A new CBN Guide to Charges took effect on 21 April 2026, restructuring inter-bank electronic transfer fees into three tiers:

The stamp duty (EMTL)

The Electronic Money Transfer Levy is a flat ₦50 on electronic transfers of ₦10,000 and above. It is a tax, not a bank charge — the bank collects it on behalf of government.

The change that caught people out: from 1 January 2026, the sender pays it, not the recipient. Previously the levy came off the receiving account. Fintechs had already been collecting it since September 2024; January 2026 extended it across all banks and flipped who bears it.

Two exemptions apply: salary payments, and transfers between a customer's own accounts at the same bank.

From 2026, states retain 100% of EMTL revenue under the new tax administration framework.

Putting it together

Note the awkward band. A ₦20,000 transfer attracts a ₦10 fee but a ₦50 levy — the tax is five times the bank charge, because the levy is flat and the fee is tiered.

PoS cash-out

PoS withdrawal charges were standardised at ₦100 per ₦20,000 for on-us transactions. Before this, informal pricing of as much as ₦100 per ₦5,000 was common, particularly in areas with thin ATM coverage.

Whether the standardised rate is being observed everywhere is a separate question. In practice, agents in locations with limited competition have historically charged above the published rate.

Cash withdrawal limits

The cashless policy in force since 2023 sets weekly cash withdrawal ceilings:

• Individuals: ₦500,000 per week
• Corporates: ₦5,000,000 per week

Withdrawals above those ceilings attract processing fees of 3% for individuals and 5% for corporates.

There are also daily ATM and PoS cash-out caps. We have not published a daily figure here because we could not verify the current one against a live CBN circular — the original 2023 policy set ₦20,000 per day at ATMs, and a commonly cited current figure of ₦100,000 appears only in commercial sources. Check with your own bank rather than relying on either number.

The cybersecurity levy

You may remember a 0.5% levy on electronic transfers announced in 2024. It is not being collected.

The sequence: the levy was created by the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment) Act 2024; the CBN directed banks to implement it on 6 May 2024; the President suspended it on 14 May 2024; and the CBN formally withdrew the circular on 17 May 2024.

The statutory levy still sits in the amended Act. The implementing directive was withdrawn and, as far as we can establish, has not been reissued. The accurate description is: legislated, but not in force.

Why any of this matters

Because for small, frequent transactions the charges are proportionally heavy. A trader sending ₦15,000 to a supplier three times a week pays ₦180 in levies and fees — around ₦9,360 a year on ₦2.34 million of transfers. For someone operating on thin margins, that is not trivial.

Structuring transfers to stay below ₦10,000 to avoid the levy is legal, but splitting a single payment into multiple smaller ones specifically to evade the levy is not something we would advise, and banks monitor for it.

Frequently asked questions

Who pays the ₦50 stamp duty now? The sender, since 1 January 2026.

Is my salary charged the levy? No. Salary payments are exempt.

Are transfers between my own accounts charged? Not the levy, where both accounts are at the same bank.

Is the cybersecurity levy being deducted? No. The implementing circular was withdrawn in May 2024 and has not been reissued.

Sources

• Sender now pays the ₦50 levy — TheCable
• CBN Guide to Charges, April 2026 — TechCabal
• States retain EMTL revenue — BusinessDay
• Cybersecurity levy withdrawn — TheCable