Banks' online transactions rise by N12.8 trillion

The value of banks’ online transaction made in Nigeria has increased from N36.49 trillion between January and June 2018 to N49.35 trillion between same period in 2019. This represents an increase of 33.8%, data obtained from the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement Scheme disclosed.

Also, the use of online financial transaction platforms has continued to rise with the volume of payments on NIBSS’s Instant Pay growing by 63.5% from 308.41 million to 504.16 million within the same period.

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However, the value of cash transactions via cheques suffered a decline of 11.37% from N2.6 trillion in the first six months of 2018 to N2.3 trillion between January and June this year.

What it means: It means the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which led to the increase in alternative digital payment platforms, is to a certain extent successful. The policy has reduced the number of visits to banking halls as indicated by the reduced number of payments made by cheques in the first half of the year.

Breakdown of cheques deals: From January to June 2019, the volume of cheques cleared by Nigerian banks dropped by 16.7% to 3.95 million compared with 4.74 million recorded in the industry within the corresponding period in 2018.

Transactions via cheques have been on a steady decline this year as shown by data on the volume of cheques cleared from January to June.

NIBSS data also disclosed that in January 2019, banks honoured 712,191 cheques valued at N403.22 billion as against, 885,166 cheques valued at N449.25 billion in the same period in 2018.

The total number of cheques treated in February dropped to 640,497 cheques worth N372.36 billion from 784,659 cheques worth N426.91 billion;
March – 653,032 cheques worth N377.17 billion to 806,284 cheques worth N440.73 billion;
April – 638,248 worth N379.82 billion from 737,353 cheques worth N435 billion;
May – 718,139 cheques valued at N401.76 billion from 798,737 cheques valued at N446.44 billion; and
June – 591,741 cheques valued at N336.59 billion from 732,157 cheques valued at N397.62 billion within the same period.
Automated Direct Debit (Volume) in January dropped from 3.54 million to 3.29 million
February – 2.32 million to 3.17 million
March – 2.32 million to 2.44 million
April – 3.94 million to 3.90 million
May – 2.87 million to 3.29 million
June – 2.47 million to 2.22 million
Automated Direct Debit (Value) in January dropped from N25.64 billion to N18.41 billion
February from N26.75 billion to N18.41 billion
March – N26.75 to N23.26 billion
April – N38.05 billion to N37.53 billion
May – N26.96 billion to N25.74 billion
June – N15.7 billion to N14.27 billion

Surge in PoS, e- bill payment volume: NIBBS data also confirmed that the use of digital financial transaction platforms increased as the volume of Point of Sales (PoS), mobile payments and electronic bill payments hit a double-digit feat.

Similarly, the data also revealed that the volume of electronic payment of bills such as utility bills, cable TV subscription, hotel and airline bookings, school fees and airtime top-up witnessed a growth of 20% from 513,442 in the corresponding period in 2018 to 616,651 same period in 2019.

e-bills transactions increased from N256.65billion in 2018 to N281.56billion in the corresponding period in 2019.
Volume of transactions on the PoS terminals jumped from 120.7 million to 187.7 million, 55.39% increase

Already, 270,110 PoS terminals had been registered as of March 2019.