Business

Cash Crunch: E-payment Transactions Rise 298% To N135trn In 3mths

Published

2 years ago

April 18, 2023

Editor

The value of electronic payment transactions rose year-on-year (YoY) by 298 percent to N135.52 trillion in the first quarter of the year (Q1’23) from N34.04 trillion in Q1’22, reflecting the impact of cash scarcity on the payment culture of Nigerians.

The cash scarcity, which lingered for more than two months, was a fallout of the implementation of the Naira Redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. The policy involved the redesign and release of N200, N500 and N1,000 naira notes.

The apex bank also announced that the old notes would cease to be legal tender by January 31st this year. After much pleading, the CBN moved the date to February 10th. While the CBN withdrew from circulation over N2 trillion of the old notes, the new notes were however not widely available. This led to cash rationing by banks, while PoS agents imposed exorbitant cash exchange charges, sometimes as high as 30% of the transaction value.

This development compelled most Nigerians to adopt electronic channels for payment of goods and services.

Reflecting the impact of this development, e-payment data from the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS) released yesterday showed that the number (volume) of e-payment transactions shot up by 984 percent to 4.7 billion in Q1’23 from 433.4 million in Q1’22, while the value rose year-on-year (YoY) by 298 percent to N135.52 trillion in the first quarter of the year (Q1’23) from N34.04 trillion in Q1’22.

Analysis of data showed that the value of e-payment transactions stood at N42.42 trillion in January but went down by 4.3 percent, month-on-month, to N40.6 trillion in February from where it rose by 34 percent to N54.5 trillion in March.

The volume of e-payment transactions stood at 1.12 billion in January rising by 29 percent, MoM to 1.45 billion in February and up by 46 percent, MoM to 2.13 billion in March.

NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) channel had the highest value of transactions with N123.72 trillion and the largest volume of transactions with 2.5 billion during the period.

Business

CBN Sets POS Maximum Transactions In Fresh Guidelines

Published

1 day ago

October 8, 2025

Editor

The Central Bank of Nigeria has rolled out fresh guidelines for agent banking, known as Point of Sales, across the country.

The apex also in the guidelines pegged daily POS transactions at N1.2 million per agent and N100,000 per individual.

CBN disclosed this in a circular signed by its Director of the Payments System Management Department, Musa Jimoh.

The guidelines further mandate all financial institutions to publish the list of all their POS agents on their website and to display it in their branches.

CBN noted that the guidelines would take effect from April 1, 2026.

“The Guidelines aim to establish minimum standards for operating agent banking in Nigeria, enhancing agent banking to provide financial services and promoting financial inclusion, encouraging responsible market conduct and improving service quality in agent banking operations.

“This circular takes effect from the date of release, while the implementation of agent location and agent exclusivity shall be in effect from April 1, 2026.

“POS agents are restricted to a maximum of N1.2 million per day. Individual customers are limited to N100,000 in daily transactions.

“These limits are intended to curb misuse, enhance financial integrity, and protect consumers within the agent banking framework,” it stated.

Business

Naira Records First Appreciation Against US Dollar At Official Market

Published

1 day ago

October 8, 2025

Editor

The Naira recorded appreciation on Wednesday against the United States dollar at the official market, the first time in three days this week.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s exchange rate data showed that the Naira strengthened to N 1,470.62 per dollar on Wednesday, up from N1,471.09 traded on Tuesday.

This means that the country’s currency firmed up slightly by N0.47 against the dollar on a day-to-day basis.

Monday and Tuesday, the Naira recorded negative sentiment at the official foreign exchange market.

However, at the black market, the Naira remained unchanged at N1,500 per dollar on Wednesday, the same rate exchanged on Tuesday.

The apex bank data indicated that the country’s external reserves, a determinant of the exchange rates, stood at $42.57 billion as of October 7, 2025.

Business

SEC Warns Nigerians Of AfriQuantumX Ponzi scheme

Published

1 day ago

October 8, 2025

Editor

Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has named AfriQuatum, with a claimed worth of N76 billion, as a Ponzi scheme.

The regulator also urged the public to be cautious about investing with the firm.

SEC disclosed this in a recent statement.

According to the SEC, any person who places an investment or engages with the entity does so at his or her own risk, adding that its operations exhibit characteristics commonly associated with fraudulent Ponzi schemes.

“The attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission has been drawn to the activities of AfriQuantumX, which holds itself out as an investment platform trading on and selling cryptocurrency and stocks to investors in Nigeria.

“The Commission hereby informs the public that AfriQuantumX is not registered by the Commission either to solicit investments from the public or operate in any capacity within the Nigerian capital market,” SEC stated.