The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ordered all banks, payment service banks, and other regulated financial institutions to immediately withdraw any advertisement or promotional content that violates its consumer-protection and fair-marketing standards.
The directive, issued through a circular dated November 27, 2025, and signed by Olubunmi Ayodele-Oni for the Director of the Compliance Department, follows a thematic industry review that exposed widespread lapses in how institutions interpret the Consumer Protection Regulations 2019 and the Guidelines on Advertisements by Deposit-Taking Financial Institutions issued in 2000.
According to the apex bank, many financial institutions continue to publish adverts that exaggerate product benefits, hide key information, downplay associated risks, or rely on unaudited financial statements. Such practices, it warned, mislead customers, distort competition, and undermine market integrity.
The CBN emphasised that all adverts must be factual, fair, and transparent. It explicitly prohibited comparative, superlative, and de-marketing statements—whether stated directly or implied. Promotional inducements such as lotteries, lucky dips, and prize draws were also banned on the grounds that they could pressure customers into financial commitments without adequately understanding the risks.
As part of an enhanced compliance framework, financial institutions must now submit advance notifications to the CBN before publishing or airing any advert. These notifications must include the duration of the campaign, creative materials, target audience details, and written confirmation of internal clearance by the compliance and legal departments.
Institutions must also provide evidence that the underlying financial product or service being advertised has already received CBN approval. The regulator stressed that the notification requirement is for monitoring purposes only and does not constitute prior approval of the advert.
The apex bank directed all institutions to immediately withdraw any non-compliant advertisement. It also ordered them to submit, within 30 days, a compliance attestation jointly signed by the Managing Director or Chief Executive Officer, the Executive Compliance Officer, and the Chief Compliance Officer.
From January 2026, the CBN will commence a follow-up review to assess industry-wide compliance, with sanctions to be imposed on violators in line with the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020 and the Consumer Protection Regulations.
The regulator reiterated its commitment to ensuring fairness, transparency, and responsible marketing practices across Nigeria’s financial system.
