Nigerians’ preference for online payment continued on a positive trend as electronic channels saw significant growth from October to December, according to new data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The NBS added two new channels, namely m-Cash and Remita in the report titled ‘Selected Banking Sector Data – Q4 2017: Electronic Payment Channels in the Nigeria Banking Sector.’
Cheque transactions, the data revealed, continued to see fewer volumes at 2,679,700 in Q4 than it did in Q3 with 2,831,252. The data also showed consistent decline within the months of October (951,364), November (919,590), and December (808,746).
For the electronic category, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) channel led the payment activities growth with total volumes hitting over 239 million in N1.8 trillion worth of activities. That is a significant leap from the third quarter where volume of transactions only reached 62 million valued at N514 billion.
November was the busiest month for ATM transactions as volumes reached 87,978,334, unlike in October and December where volumes were at 72,140,905 and 79,622,990 respectively. Experts told BusinessDay that interruptions in December which occasioned long queues at machines across the country may have been responsible for the drop during the month. December also witnessed acute fuel shortage which impacted on movement to ATM machines.
The Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Instant Payment (NIP) followed ATM closely with fourth quarter (Q4) volumes hitting 122,859,129 from 97,530,856 it recorded in Q3 and total value in Q4 at over N15 billion up from N13 billion.
Point of Sales (POS) payment also grew in Q4 with volumes appreciating over 47 million from over 39 million in Q3. Value also increased to N432 billion from N365 in Q3. There was subsistent growth from October to December in terms of volume and value. Frenzy end of the year shopping especially in modern retail stores impacted volumes in December which hit the highest at 17,057,465.
Growth in mobile payments also indicates that more people are beginning to embrace the channel in their daily transactions. Total volumes hit 12,272,667 and valued at N307 billion in Q4 a contrast from Q3 where volume and value were at 3,895,102 and N86 billion respectively. Growth within the three months was also consistent. The most appreciation was recorded in December with volume at 4,508,860.
NIBSS Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) did not break the growth tradition as total volumes more than doubled in Q4 reaching 11,070,069 at a total value of N4.139 trillion. In Q3 it grew to only 5,762,348 at a value of N3.080 billion.
