Depositors across banks did transactions worth N97.32 trillion over the instant payment and Point of Sales (PoS) in the last 11 months, data from the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement Scheme revealed.
The report disclosed that while a total of N94.49 trillion worth transaction were conducted via the instant payment platform, another N2.83 trillion were carried out by banks’ depositors on the PoS platform within the same period under review.
The NIBSS data showed that a total of 1.019 billion instant payment deals were conducted on the platform from January to November this year.
The volume of NIP deals also increased by 58% in the 11-month period of 2019, compared with 645.52 million transactions recorded in the corresponding period in 2018.
Further analysis indicated that the NIP deals had a 31% improvement in terms of the value of transaction when compared to the same period in 2018 when the NIP deals amounted to N72.03trillion.
[READ MORE: FG stops N50 charge on POS transactions)
Checks showed that November had the highest instant payments in value and volume within the period under review.
The NIP volume hit 109.56 million in November this year, amounting to transactions valued at N9.622 trillion.
For the PoS payments, the NIBSS reported 392.48 volume of deals in the 11 months, amounting to 55% increase when compared with 253.96 million reported in the corresponding period of 2018.
The NIBSS data showed that the value of the PoS deals also increased by 38% from January to November, compared with the corresponding period in 2018 when payments were worth N2.05trillion.
Similar to the NIP transactions, November recorded the highest volume and value of the PoS deals out of the 11 months under review.
According to the NIBSS data, the PoS payments peaked at N303.83billion in November this year when it recorded a volume of 41.833 million.
Meanwhile, Nairametrics had reported that the Federal Government of Nigeria has stopped the additional N50 charge currently being imposed on transactions carried out through Point of Sales (POS) Terminal.
In a directive issued by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) on Tuesday obtained by Nairametrics, the recent circular released on POS transactions’ charges by the Central Bank is to be borne by businesses. As such, passing it on consumers is counterproductive, burdensome and inconsistent with the underlying cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to the circular signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Babatunde Itukera, the FCCPC stated that the circular released on September 17th, 2019 by the CBN was not meant to pass N50 POS fees to consumers. As such, it is illegal and inappropriate for businesses to pass a stamp duty cost of doing their business to consumers.
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The Circular partly reads thus: “In recent times, there has been insignificant contention with respect to merchant imposed N50 stamp duty assessments on consumers for transactions. This imposed fee is supposedly a pass-through for onward transmission as a government-mandated surcharge.
“The FCCPC has robustly engaged the CBN on this issue, pursuant to 5.17 (b), (f), (g), (i) of the FCCPC Act, including meetings of the highest levels of leadership of both regulators. The FCCPC’s strongly held position was that an assessment imposed on merchants necessarily is a component of doing business, and may only be directly passed on to consumers in limited circumstances.”
