New Telegraph

E-payment: Banks’ customers transfer N48.6trn in 5 months

COVID-19 pushes cashless policy embrace

Banks customers in the country transferred a total of N48.6 trillion between January and May through the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) Instant Payment (NIP) platform, New Telegraph has learnt. This represented a 17 per cent in electronic transfers when compared with N41.4 trillion recorded in the same period of 2019.

The NIP, an accountnumber based, online-realtime Inter-Bank payment solution, was introduced in 2011 to provide instant value to customers engaging in financial transactions and have grown to become the most preferred payment platform, having recorded the highest volume and value of transactions over the years. Analysis of the monthly electronic transfers showed that N10.2 trillion was transferred in January, while N9.9 trillion was recorded in February. In March and April, N10.9 trillion and N7 trillion NIP transfers were recorded respectively.

In May the transfer value stood at N10.4 trillion. According to the latest e-payment data released by NIBSS, the volume of NIP transactions also increased from 416.7 million in the first five months of 2019 to 615.3 million in 2020. Industry analysts had predicted a boom in electronic payments following the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Aside from the total lockdown imposed in some states between March and April, which forced many to transact businesses using the online transfer platforms, cashless transactions are being recommended globally as a means to limit contact spread of the virus. Against this backdrop, more Nigerians had also embraced payment of bills electronically as opposed to cash in the last five months. An analysis of the NIBSS data indicated that the value of electronic bills payments (e-bills) for utility bills such as cable TV subscription, electricity bill, hotel and airline bookings, school fees and airtime topup, increased by 86 per cent to reach N444 billion in the first five months of the year. In 2019, the value of e-bills payment stood at N238 billion.

The volume of e-bills payment, however, declined to 373,652 against 530,941 recorded in the same period of 2019. The e-Bills Pay is an account-based, online realtime product that facilitates the payment of bills from an account. It ensures instant credit of payments and receipt of collections on behalf of Billers/Merchant recruited on the platform. While the use of the platform delivers instant value to merchants, its usage by public institutions is seen as a way of fighting corruption as it reduces human interface in transactions. Meanwhile, electronic payments through the Point of Sales (PoS) terminals also maintained its growth trajectory between January and May as Nigerians spent N1.6 trillion over the platform in the five months. This shows an increase of over N500 billion over N1.1 trillion recorded in the same period last year. According to the NIBSS’ report, the volume of PoS transactions in the five months stood at 228.8 million. This also indicated a 33 per cent increase over 152.5 million deals recorded in the same period last year. As the drive to reach 80 per cent financial inclusion target by 2020 given by the CBN intensifies, more PoS terminals are being issued for super-agent banks to extend the reach of financial services to remote areas where banking services are not available. This has led to an increase in demand for PoS machines by merchants in recent times as the NIBSS data showed that registered terminals in the country rose from 449,998 in January this year to 488,825 in May.

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