With the growing adoption of the cashless policy and increased patronage of mobile money, the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) has put the value of transactions recorded through mobile money platform at N40 billion monthly.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), Alhaji Sulaiman Barau, who is also the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate), CBN, disclosed this at the electronic payment efficiency awards held in Lagos over the weekend.
Barau, said the cashless policy has seen a tremendous growth since its inception. As a result of this, banks and institutions who contributed to the growth were rewarded.
He said: “It is on record that with the implementation of EPIS, the usage of alternative channels has increased tremendously thereby impacting on the lives of Nigerians including funds transfers ease, reducing cash related crimes, safety of lives and so on. The mobile money scheme has also recorded tremendous growth monthly transaction value of over N40 billion.”
“The number of POS terminals registered and deployed at the inception of the cashless policy in 2012 was about 5000 POS terminals. However, as at February 2016, the total number registered and deployed stands at 138,990 and at two weeks ago it was 132,000 showing that it is growing.”
Barau also said the objective of the Efficiency Payment Incentive Scheme (EPIS) efficiency awards was to recognise, encourage and reward stakeholders in the payment space in Nigeria, saying it would be an annual event.
Speaking on the awards, he said it was a moment to celebrate efforts that represented the standards and values that draw admiration and respect not just for the regulators, but also for the public.
A total of 20 winners emerged. The ‘cashless driver bulk payment’ award was won by Zenith Bank Plc, while ‘cashless driver instant payment’ award was won by GTBank. The ‘highest driver PoS’ winner was also won by Zenith Bank and the ‘cashless driver PoS issued card transaction’ award went to GTBank.
The second category of awardees was for non-banks. The merchant award with the ‘highest transaction value’ went to Ikeja Electronic Distribution Company, while ‘payment aggregator’ went to Soft Alliance and Resources Limited, just as the ‘cashless driver corporate’ went to Benin Electricity Distribution Plc.
Also, the third category was for ‘cashless drivers’ government’ with three winners namely the Office of the Accountant General, Lagos and Kwara state respectively. Also, a recognition award for innovation in electronic payment by government went to the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS).
The fourth category of award was to banks for platform efficiency. The award for ‘instant payment transaction efficiency’ was won by GTBank, while ‘instant payment transaction response efficiency’ was won by Citibank Nigeria. As the ‘PoS issued card issued card transaction’ award went to Diamond Bank, the ‘E-reference operation’ was won by GTBank, while the ‘highest volume in BVN enrolment’ award went to FirstBank of Nigeria Limited.
Source: ThisDay
