Electronic payment transactions in Nigeria grew from N18.1trillion in 2012 to N35.1trillion in 2014.This was disclosed by Ifie Sekibo, managing director and chief executive officer, Heritage Bank Limited. He said that the changing dynamics of banking across the globe has made the need for the country to move along the direction of e-banking an imperative. The current trend toward e-payment in the country, according to him, is driven by forces of globalisation, self-service mobile gadgets and central bank’s regulatory directives. He made these revelations recently at the annual Cashless Card Expo of Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to him, the impact of the changes on the Nigerian banking landscape has been reflected in the sharp increase in the growth of electronic payment services between 2012 and 2014 in the country. He said: “The volume of e-payment in Nigeria grew from N18.1tn in 2012 to N35.1tn in 2014. While transactions through Point of Sale increased from N48bn in 2013 to N312bn in 2014, Instant Pay transactions increased from N3.8tn in 2012 to N19.9tn in 2014.”
Notwithstanding, the growth in e-payment did not show the huge population of mobile phone users in the country. “There are over 105 million mobile phones users in Nigeria. Also 60 million of Nigerians do not have bank accounts but have phones. Further, research has shown that 92 per cent of banking transactions can be done without human intervention. Convenient banking is the norm and differentiation can only come via innovation. E-payment is now a commodity, innovative e-payment is the way to go,” he said.
Heritage Bank CEO said that banks in Nigeria were committed to introducing more innovative banking services.
By Dike Onwuamaeze
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