Jaiz Bank plc, the pioneer non-interest Islamic bank in Nigeria, is among the first eight banks to commence the Automated Bulk Payment System (NAPS). This will ensure faster processing of bulk payments like salaries, allowances, contractors payments and direct debit recoveries by the bank.
NAPS is an innovation by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NiBSS) plc and commenced full operations on Monday, February 2, 2015.
The banks that successfully participated in the pilot run of the system are Jaiz Bank; First Bank of Nigeria; Guaranty Trust Bank; StanbicIBTC Bank; Sterling Bank; Union Bank of Nigeria; United Bank for Africa, and Wema Bank.
The NiBSS says other banks would join the operations as soon as they conclude on the necessary transition processes.
NAPS is a product of a strategic alliance between NiBSS and SystemSpecs Limited, which is a direct response to market demand for On-Line-Real-Time bulk payment. It is a variance of the NiBSS Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) system introduced in 2004, and the NiBSS Instant Payments (NIP) introduced in 2011.
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The service is designed to enable faster processing of bulk payments like salaries, allowances, contractors payments and direct debit recoveries. It is a full end-to-end Credit (Push) and Debit (Pull) Transactions service deployable to corporate customers of banks.
It integrates with the NiBSS Industry-wide Central Mandate Management Systems (CMMS) for faster direct debit processing.
The service is a 24/7 payments system operating at 15 minutes payments cycles with transaction tracking functionality, full end-to-end (STP) processing and operates on the secure NIBSS Virtual Private Network.
According to Idris Salihu, head, corporate communications of Jaiz Bank, “this innovation by NiBSS and for which Jaiz is proud to have been part of, will no doubt position our bank to deliver on the needs of our corporate and public sector clients especially as it relates to timely and efficient payment of bulk transactions. It will also complement our internet and mobile banking platforms.”
