Nigerians transfer N216bn via mobile devices in nine months

The efforts to leverage mobile phones to create a cashless economy and drive financial inclusion are yielding results as financial transactions on mobile devices continue to soar , IFE OGUNFUWA writesThe value of transactions via mobile devices rose by 56 per cent in the first nine months of this year to N 216 bn from the 2017 figure of N 138 bn , as banks , fintechs and telecommunications companies intensify efforts to deepen financial inclusion .

Similarly , the volume of transactions on mobile devices increased by 47 per cent in the same period , data on electronic payment transactions obtained from the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System showed.

With the relaunch of mCASH , experts predict that there will be exponential increase in transactions on mobile devices in the next one year .

The mobile network operators and 16 banks came together to relaunch the Nigeria Inter – Bank Settlement System’ s mCASH , a mobile payment system for making low- value retail payments for the benefit of low- income buyers and sellers dealing in cash , earlier this year .

The initiative aims to engage about 500 , 000 agent networks in the next two years , who will use Unstructured Supplementary Service Data for payments and remittances .

Speaking at the re -launch of mCASH , the Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer , NIBSS , Adebisi Shonubi , said , “ The intention is to expand the payment opportunity for people who still use cash today to find more convenient means of making payment . ”

Huge investment of financial institution in technology that drives digital banking continues to yield results as a further analysis of the statistics showed that the value of instant transfer on the NIBSS platform from January to September increased by 41 per cent from N 40 . 45 tn in 2017 to N 56 . 85 tn within the same period this year .

In addition, the volume of transactions on the NIP platform increased by 76 per cent from 248 . 01 million transactions in the 2017 review to 435 . 68 million as of September 2018 .

As regards Point of Sales activities , transactions worth N 1 . 61 tn were carried out on the terminal all over the country from January to September 2018 , recording a 102 per cent increase as against N 0 . 98 tn in 2017 .

According to the data, the volume of PoS transactions in the country also rose by 99 per cent from 98 . 73 million in the first nine months of last year to 196 . 83 million in the same period of this year .

However , the value of utility bills payment on banks ’ digital channels suffered a decline in the first nine months of this year .

The NIBSS records indicated that there was a 12 per cent reduction in the value of transactions for utility bills payment from January to September 2018 compared to the same period last year .

The banking industry recorded e – bills payment worth N 421 bn in the first nine months of 2017 and N 372 bn in the same period this year .

However , in the first three quarters of the current year , the volume of electronic bills transactions increased by 10 per cent to 788 , 000 from 715 , 000 in 2017 .

Some of the bill payment services offered by banks on their digital platforms are airline and hotel payments , cable TV bills , embassies ’ visa payments , phone bills, toll payments , electricity bills, tax payments , school fees , shipping terminal bills, betting and lottery .

Commenting on the observed reduction in the value of electronic bills payment and minimal increase in volume as against other electronic payment , the Managing Director , UpperLink Limited , a software development company, Mr Segun Akano , explained the trend for bills payment had shifted to the USSD mobile payment and agency banking .

According to him , the transactions captured by the NIBSS represent bills payment carried out in banking halls by walk- in customers .

He stated , “ There is a lot of shift to the USSD mobile payment . The e – bills only capture payment in bank branches . They didn ’ t capture payments through mobile apps and agency banks . Utility companies have been using a lot of vendors because they noticed that a lot of people are not going to banks , so they have engaged vendors to collect payments for them , especially in remote places .

“ For instance , Eko , Kano and Benin Electricity Distribution companies don’ t wait for people to go to banks to pay their bills ; so, they set up kiosks for agency banking to collect payment for electricity bills on their behalf . ”

Akano , however , said there were plans to integrate the USSD and agency transactions into the NIBSS platform to get a holistic view of e – bills payment .

“ Though Nigerians pay bills via their mobile apps and agency banking, the data is not captured in the NIBSS statistics . In the next one year , the story will change because all the supper agents that the Central Bank of Nigeria has appointed are now being onboarded on the platform so that there can be a holistic way of accessing all transactions . But right now , they are disintegrated, ” he added .

Meanwhile , many customers in the past week complained of unsuccessful transactions across the digital payment channels of their different banks .

While some said their accounts were debited and the transactions reversed , many complained of non – reversal of the transactions after 24 hours .

However , the Head , Corporate communications , NIBSS , Lilian Phido , said rejected transactions could be linked to system downtime for specific banks or network issues emanating from a specific service provider .

She explained that the downtime in one bank could cause a failed transaction in another , especially when the transaction was interbank .

Phido stated , “ It could be a local issue to a particular bank due to a system downtime . It could be from the receiving bank or the collecting bank. If the hitch is from the NIBSS , then that means no PoS will work .

“ We can see all the activities from every outlet . If there is a glitch from one of the service providers , we will see it . What we do is to call the service provider ’ s attention to the glitch. This is because every glitch on one stakeholder ’ s system will affect every other person . ”

Download Edujandon.com News App QR-Code

Edujandon.com - 24/7 News Upda

Developer: Edujandon Enterprises

Price: Free