Electronic fund transactions to hit N2.48tn monthly

The Nigerian Electronic Fund Transfer and Instant Payment transactions on the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement are likely to hit N2.48tn on a monthly basis. The projection is based on the revelation by the Central Bank of Nigeria that NEFT and NIP transactions, processed by the NIBSS, had reached N80bn daily, which will translate into about N2.48tn monthly.

The Deputy Governor, Operations, CBN, Mr. Tunde Lemo, recently disclosed that the NEFT and NIP transactions were already in the range of N80bn daily. Lemo explained that the NIP was recording over N20bn in daily transaction value, while NEFT was conducting about N60bn transactions daily. The NIP and NEFT are e-Payment channels used to make payments for huge transactions electronically.

The NIBSS provides the infrastructure for automated processing, settlement of payments and fund transfer instructions between banks, discount houses and card companies in the country.

Lemo noted that both the value and volume of cash transactions executed through the NIBSS and the NEFT had doubled when compared with the use of cheques.

In spite of the growth in NEFT and NIP, the Governor, CBN, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, identified poor telecommunication connectivity as a major challenge for the cash-less policy. He said, “If you want to move data, for example, you need more bandwidth. It is not enough to have PoS terminals, or to have ATMs, there is need to expand the bandwidth. “There are operational issues, you will be amazed that you do a transaction on the PoS and you have operational issues because the name doesn’t match. So, these are all small things that we discovered. We can say that we are not where we want to be; but definitely, we are inching closer and we will get there.”

Lemo, however, said the challenges were being overcome.

He said, “We believe very much that it is getting better because we monitor the transactions on daily basis and we are beginning to record large volume and value of transactions done with Point of Sale terminals. “We are not even looking only at the PoS as a major of channel for the cash-less policy; we are now looking at all the other major channels for cash-less. We have the mobile telephone, which we will use to drive the cash-less policy too.”

The cash-less policy is aimed at reducing the dominance of cash in the system. It specifies penal charges for individuals and corporate organisations that want to withdraw or lodge cash above prescribed limits. Under the policy, the banking watchdog pegged the daily cumulative cash withdrawal or deposit limit for individual accounts at N500,000, and N3m for corporate accounts.