Banks record N97.32tn transactions on PoS, instant payment platforms in 11 months

 

 

 

The latest report from the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement Scheme (NIBSS) has shown that banks’ customers carried out financial transactions on the instant payment and Point of Sale (PoS) platforms worth N97.32 trillion between January and November this year.

A breakdown of the data indicated that the customers carried out a total of N94.49 trillion worth of financial transactions on the instant payment platform in the 11-month period.

In addition, the PoS payments valued at N2.832 trillion were conducted within the same period.

The NIBSS data showed that a total of 1.019 billion instant payment deals were conducted on the platform from January to November this year.

The volume of NIP deals also increased by 58 per cent in the 11-month period of 2019, compared with 645.52 million transactions recorded in the corresponding period in 2018.

A further analysis indicated that the NIP deals had a 31 per cent improvement in terms of the value of transaction when compared to the same period in 2018, when the NIP deals amounted to N72.03 trillion.

Checks showed that November had the highest instant payments in value and volume out of the 11 months being reviewed.

The NIP volume hit 109.56 million in November this year, amounting to transactions valued at N9.622 trillion.

For the PoS payments, the NIBSS reported 392.48 volume of deals in the 11 months, amounting to 55 per cent increase when compared with 253.96 million reported in the corresponding period of 2018.

The NIBSS data showed that the value of the PoS deals also increased by 38 per cent from January to November, compared with the corresponding period in 2018 when payments were worth N2.05tn.

Similar to the NIP transactions, November recorded the highest volume and value of the PoS deals out of the 11 months under review.

According to the NIBSS data, the PoS payments peaked at N303.83 billion in November this year when it recorded a volume of 41.833 million.

It will be recalled that a director at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Payment System Management Department, Musa Jimoh, had asked Nigerians not to pay the N50 charge on the PoS transactions.

While speaking in an interview on Channels TV, he said only businesses using the POS were to pay N50 per payment received through the machine and not customers.

“No single individual should pay N50 in addition to the cost of the good,” Jimoh said.

Also, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission on Tuesday stopped the additional N50 stamp duty charge being imposed on transactions conducted through the PoS terminal.

In a directive signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Mr Babatunde Irukera, the commission explained that the merchants’ response of imposing the assessment on consumers was not only inconsistent with the cashless policy, but also counterproductive and burdensome on consumers.

Irukera said the commission, in collaboration with the CBN, other relevant regulators and law enforcement authorities would enforce the policy.