Nigerians have continued to abandon cheque transactions as Point of Sale transactions rise to N13.67tn in three years, according to data obtained from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc portal.
The data showed that the aggregate PoS transactions between January 2019 and November 2021 were N13.67tn while total cheque transactions within the same period was N10.67tn.
In its ‘Instant Payments – 2020 Annual Statistics’, the NIBSS said, “The COVID-19 pandemic changed the e-payments landscape, accelerating the adoption of instant payments as more people transitioned to electronic channels for funds exchange in the wake of government-imposed lockdowns.”
In 2019, the value of cheque transactions in the nation was N4.48tn while the value of PoS transactions totalled N3.21tn. By 2020, the value of cheque transactions dropped to N3.27tn while the value of PoS transactions rose to N4.73tn. Between January and November 2021, the value of cheque transactions dropped further to N2.92tn, while the value of PoS transactions increase again to N5.73tn.
Prior to 2019, cheque transactions were worth N5.04tn while PoS transactions were worth a mere N2.32tn in 2018. Cheque transactions dropped from a total of 7,812,548 in 2019 to 4,925,306 in 2020, and 4,063,675 in the first 11 months of 2021.
