Nigeria sees e-payment transactions via PoS, ATM, USSD, others reach N162.9trn in 2020

By Charles Abuede

Nigeria recorded e-payment transactions worth N162.9 trillion using point of sales (PoS), automated teller machine (ATM), unstructured supplementary service Data (USSD), among others, between January and December 2020, data from the NIBBS has shown.

The data shows that the Nigerian Instant Payment System (NIPS) and the PoS terminals rose by 50.3 per cent, a surge attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought about the need for social distancing, as well as lockdowns that kept Nigerians away from the banking halls and made them resort to the use of other payment channels.

According to the data collected from the NIBSS platform from January to December 2020, PoS deals were worth N4.73 trillion, rising by 47.8 per cent from the N3.2 trillion recorded in the preceding year, while NIPS reached N158.22 trillion compared to the N105.22 trillion recorded during the same period in 2019.

As a result, a breakdown of the data shows that the instant payments were made by bank customers via various bank branches, automated teller machines (ATM) points, via internet banking platforms, mobile apps and the unstructured supplementary service data (USSD), amongst others.

The data further revealed that during the last month of 2020, total financial transactions worth N20.35 trillion were carried out by customers on the instant payment platform. This figure was about N10 trillion higher than the N10.74 trillion value executed by customers in the corresponding month of 2019.

Furthermore, total PoS transactions valued at N574.37 billion were conducted in December 2020, according to the NIBSS data. This represents over 50 per cent rise from the N372.69 billion in 2019.

With the growing demand for banking and financial services, as well as the rising mobile and internet penetration in the country, the rate of transactions via several banking channels will continue to be on the rise as customers continue to embrace technology and more innovations within the financial services industry in Nigeria.