COVID drives up e-payment transactions by 47% to N598trn YoY

By Elizabeth Adegbesan

At the backdrop of social distancing and remote business operations occasioned by the COVID-19, Nigeria’s electronics payment industry has recorded a robust growth Year-on-Year, YoY, as at end September 2021.

The value of e-payment transactions rose YoY by 47 per cent to N598.16 trillion in September 2021, from N114.84 trillion in the corresponding period of 2020.

Vanguard analysis of data from Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) showed that the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) had the highest volume (2.5 trillion) and value (N191.23 trillion) of e-payment transactions during the review period.

This was followed by Mobile Interscheme transfer transactions which recorded volume and value at 188.5 million and N5.07 trillion respectively.

Further analysis showed that the volume of NIP transactions grew YoY by 92 per cent to 2.5 trillion in 2021 from 1.3 trillion in 2020 and its value ticked up by 81 per cent to N191.23 trillion in 2021 from N105.9 trillion in 2020.

Similarly, the volume of Mobile Interscheme transactions increased by 114 per cent to 188.5 million in 2021 from 88.3 million in 2020 and it’s value rose by 167 per cent to N5.07 trillion in 2021 from N1.9 trillion in 2020.

In the 3rd edition of its insight, NIBSS noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had changed the ePayments landscape forever as it accelerated the adoption of instant payments as the population transitioned to electronic channels for funds exchange in the wake of Government imposed lockdowns.

The increased adoption of NIP for transactions continued even in the limelight of increased fraud occurrences on e-payment channels as shown in the analysis.

According to NIBSS, ‘“in 2020 on transaction Channels, Mobile remains the preferred channel with 43 percent of total transactions, while USSD remained a close second with 35 percent of transactions. These remain largely unchanged from 2019. This indicates that 78 percent of total transfer transactions were carried out using a mobile device.

It stated: “Additionally, a significant spike was observed for Internet Banking transactions, as they grew to 10 per cent of the total transactions. This can be attributed to the move away from physical channels, and the branch closures experienced in key commercial hubs in the wake of the pandemic.”

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