The value of transactions carried out online by bank customers jumped to N22.77tn in March 2021, the latest data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) have shown.
This shows a growth of 99 per cent from the mobile transaction figures of N11.44tn recorded in the corresponding period of 2020.
Bank customers conducted the transactions on the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP), Point of Sales (POS) and electronic bills platforms.
NIP was the most preferred platform in March, accounting for N22.02tn of the total online transactions’ value.
The instant payments were carried out by customers via bank branches, Internet banking, mobile apps, Automated Teller Machines and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data.
Transactions completed through PoS terminals in the month came to N531.38bn.
The value of electronic bill payments for the month was N212.92bn in the month under review.
Some of the bills paid by bank customers online were electricity bills, cable TV subscriptions, Internet services subscription and utility bills.
The NIBSS data showed that a total volume of online payment deals across the platforms was 356.11 million in March this year.
This represents an 89.1 per cent increase in the volume of transactions on the three platforms, compared with 188.35 million recorded in 2021.
Further analysis showed that the value of PoS transactions grew by 44.06 per cent from N368.86bn in March 2020 to N531.38bn in March this year.
The volume of the PoS deals also increased by 55 per cent to 80.95 million in March compared with 52.25 million transactions recorded in the corresponding period in 2020.
The report showed that in March alone, 783,136 new PoS devices were registered with over 510,773 deployed across the country.
NIP deals rose by 100.7 per cent in terms of the value of transaction when compared to the same period in 2020, when NIP deals amounted to N10.97tn.
The volume of NIP deals also grew by 103.3 per cent to 275.04 million in March 2021, compared with 135.3 million transactions recorded in the corresponding month in 2020.
The NIBSS data showed that the value of electronic bills deals increased by 98.9 per cent to N212.92bn in March, compared with the corresponding period in 2020 when payments were worth N107.06bn.
March had the highest PoS and instant payments in value and volume in the first quarter of the year.
THE PUNCH