Despite the increase in adoption of Point of Sale, (PoS) by merchants, the value of electronic payment transactions done through PoS dropped by N59.26 billion.
In a new report released by the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), it was disclosed that the value fell from N372.68 billion in December 2019 to N313.42 billion by the end of January 2020.
Also, the volume of transaction fell from 46.13 million deals in December 2019 to 41.3 million deals in January 2020, dropping 4.83 million in one month.
Surprisingly, the drop occurred at the same time banks increased their PoS deployment. Nairametrics learnt from the report that registered PoS terminals by the banks increased from 446,453 to 449,998 within the same period.
Sentiment affecting PoS usage: The sentiment around the usage of PoS has affected its acceptance by customers even though merchant and other businesses have increased the number of PoS available for the transaction.
[READ MORE: Current accounts drop by 4.5 million, as PoS transactions hit N373 billion)
The demand for the service is dropping, and a vital reason, according to users, is the fear of being surcharged by the merchants. Though, the apex bank had warned merchants from charging their customers the old N50 stamp duty, some of the merchants defied the order as they charged ignorant customers weeks after the order.
While the CBN has clarified that the stamp duty charge is for the businesses, not the customers, some businesses reportedly still engaged in what the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) described as illegal; placing the charge burden on their customers. This has an adverse effect on the use of PoS by customers, and it is the reason why the transaction volume of PoS is falling.
Nairametrics had reported that retail outlets in the e-payment value chain such as filling stations and supermarkets, which were supposed to be paying the Stamp Duty fee themselves had continued to collect the illegal fee from customers. In order to avoid dispute between customers, what some did was to add it directly to the customer’s purchases while others just put up a notice of the payment for customers to see before purchasing anything. Now the misinformation and misinterpreted of the directive is reflecting.
