Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) said that electronic payment through Point of Sale (PoS) terminals has risen by 191 percent to N241 billion in 2014.
The company also reported 249 percent increase in its profit before tax, which rose to N2.82 billion for the year ended December 31st 2013.
Chairman of NIBSS and Deputy Governor, Operations, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Alhaji Suleiman Barau disclosed this at the 2014 annual general meeting of the company held in Lagos on Friday.
Addressing shareholders of the company, Barau said, “The financial performance of our Company was greatly impacted by the impressive business activities recorded during the year. Gross Income grew by 32.33 percent to peak at N5.13 billion, up from the N3.88billion recorded in 2013. We closed the year with a Profit Before Taxation (PBT) of N2.82 billion representing a growth of 249.31% over prior year figure of N806.59million.
“NIBSS has witnessed tremendous growth in electronic payment trends on its platforms as consumers spending habits increasingly shift towards the use of alternative e-payment channels aside the Automated Teller Machines (ATM). This is evidenced by the historic recording of over 10,000,000 e- payment transactions on its platforms during the month of July 2014 compared to the average monthly transaction volume of 8,075,000 in 2013. This represents 24% growth and is a clear indication of the potential for e-payments in Nigeria and also the need for greater attention and investments to enhance NIBSS infrastructure.
“Both the NIBSS Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) and NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) products have enjoyed steady adoption over the years, enhanced by the CBN mandate for Government and Corporate entities to make all salary and administrative payments electronic.
“The volume of NEFT transactions increased by 29.51% from 29.20million (N13.61trillion) in 2013 to 37.82million (N14.93trillion) in 2014 while customers’ affinity towards instant payment has seen NIP grow volume by 204.03% from 9.22million (N7.6trillion) in 2013 to 28.03million (N15.80trillion) in 2014.
“Cheque clearing as a key product of NIBSS have evolved over time from being purely paper-based to electronic via the implementation of the Cheque Truncation System (CTS) deployed by NIBSS to the Banking Industry. Through CTS, clearing period has reduced from T+3 to T+2 in Nigeria and consequently, Cheques processing increased to 15.40million (N7.79trillion) in 2014 compared to the 12.23million (N7.15trillion) recorded in 2013 representing an increase of 25.96%.
“NIBSS serves as the Payments Terminal Service Aggregator (PTSA) for the financial industry as part of the Cashless Nigeria Initiative which requires all PoS terminal operating within Nigeria to connect directly to NIBSS through the NIBSS Central Terminal Management System (CTMS).
“The CBN Cashless Initiative which was first piloted in 6 states aside Lagos was extended nationwide in July 2014. The incredible growth in PoS transaction volume by 191.24% to 15.17million (N241.51billion) in 2014 from the 5.21million (N95.29billion) in 2013 further testifies to the successful story of PoS deployment in Nigeria.”
