CBN Moves to Tighten Debit Card Issuance, Fix ATM Failures Nationwide

|By Babatunji Wusu

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has unveiled plans to roll out a new regulatory framework designed to streamline debit card issuance and improve Automated Teller Machine (ATM) operations across the banking sector.

CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, disclosed the plan through his Special Adviser, Fatai Karim, during an event held over the weekend. He said the initiative targets persistent cash access problems and aims to rebuild public confidence in Nigeria’s electronic payment systems.

Under the proposed framework, the apex bank will require commercial banks to align the number of debit cards they issue with the volume of ATMs they have deployed nationwide. The policy is expected to ease congestion at ATM points, reduce frequent machine downtime, and address uneven cash availability across different regions.

Cardoso noted that recurring ATM failures and cash shortages continue to undermine trust in digital payment channels, even as electronic transactions expand rapidly within the financial system.

He stressed that the imbalance between debit card issuance and supporting ATM infrastructure has worsened user experience and strained cash distribution nationwide.

“Very soon, the Central Bank will be coming up with another policy to sanitise and improve the situation, particularly around how many cards banks issue relative to the number of ATMs they support,” he said.

The planned regulation signals a renewed push by the CBN to stabilise retail banking operations and strengthen the efficiency of Nigeria’s cash and electronic payment ecosystem.