NDIC capacity building reveals 86% adoption of e-banking transactions

In its over 26 years of existence, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has made series of efforts to reach out to the banking public through seminars, workshops and other programmes.

One of such workshops is the one that has been put together by NDIC for business editors and Financial Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) since 2006.

Last week, NDIC took journalists to Ilorin, Kwara State, to review the developments in the e-banking, mobile payment system and deposit insurance in Nigeria. The theme, according to Umaru Ibrahim, managing director/CEO, NDIC, was painstakingly selected to underscore the various transformations in the nation’s banking system as well as financial integration in the telecommunication system which had witnessed remarkable interface in the last decade.

Umaru noted that NDIC as a leading deposit insurer has been responding credibly well to emerging developments in the global financial system, particularly the pass-through insurance, financial literacy, consumer protection, financial inclusion, sustainable banking and extension of deposit insurance coverage to depositors of non-interest banking sector. It was revealed at the workshop that electronic banking transactions in the country are on the rise.

Nigeria first implemented a cashless policy in January 2012 with Lagos State serving as the pilot phase. After a successful trial, it was further tested in five states including Abia, Anambra, Kano, Ogun and Rivers and the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, before the third and final phase which began in June 2014.

Ibrahim Shaza, DCDS, bank fraud section of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), noted that since electronic banking was adopted by the Nigerian banking system, there has seen an exponential growth in the adoption of online payments method in Nigeria.

The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) reported volume and value increases of 50 percent and 28 percent, respectively, between 2013 and 2014 in electronic transactions consisting of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), e-commerce Point of Sale (PoS), online banking including inter- and intra-bank transfers and payments for services, and mobile platforms.

Also Nigeria has experienced a remarkable increase in adoption of electronic transactions with volume and value accounting for 86 percent and 82 percent of all transactions, respectively, in 2014, up from a mere 6 percent in 2013.

In spite of the challenges confronting the electronic banking sector of the economy, the value of mobile payment in Nigeria has grown to N815 billion as at September 2015, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Similarly, the volume of mobile payment transactions has increased to over 76 million as at the same period, while the industry has recorded over 24 million subscribers.

Meanwhile, the CBN has fully licensed a total of 21 Mobile Money Operators (MMO) who are currently carrying out commercial operations, while eight others are at various stages of pilot run.

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE