The value of fund transfer over mobile devices rose by 396.5 per cent in January this year. Statistics released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS) showed that a total of N133.2 billion was transferred through the channel in the first month of the year, a significant growth when compared with N26.8 billion recorded in the same period of 2019.
The NIBSS report showed that there was also a huge increase in the volume of transfer for the period under review.
According to the report, the volume of transfer for the month stood at 7.3 million as against 724,803 recorded in January last year. This represents a 914 per cent growth year-on-year.
However, compared with the figures recorded in December, the January record in terms of volume and value was lower. The value of mobile transfers in December 2019 stood at N148.9 billion while the volume peaked at 8.2 million. This could be attributed to the increased spending during the yuletide period, while January is expected to record less spending by the people.
The January 2020 figure, however, surpassed that of every other month in 2019, except December, indicating a huge prospect for further growth in subsequent months of this year.
Analysis of the monthly value of mobile transfers in 2019 showed that while N26.8 billion was transferred via mobile in January, N30 billion was recorded in February and N38.4 billion in March. In April, mobile transfers valued at N41.5 billion were made, while N46.8 billion was recorded in May. In June, July, and August, N45.2 billion, N60.1 billion and N84.8 billion transfers were recorded respectively. In September N87.5 billion transfers were made, while N103.6 billion was recorded in October. In November, the value of mobile transfers made in the country stood at N114 billion.
Industry analysts had attributed the growth in mobile transfer to the mCASH initiative, which was re-launched in 2018. Mobile network operators and 16 banks had come together to re-launch the initiative, which is also aimed at eliminating the use of cash, especially for small businesses.
mCASH is a mobile payment system for making low-value retail payments, designed to extend electronic payment options to low-income buyers and sellers dealing in cash. It leverages the NIBSS Instant Payments infrastructure (NIP) for immediate fund delivery to merchants’ accounts and mobile telephone USSD technology which in recent times has become the most accessible channel for financial and non-financial transactions.
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.
According to former Managing Director of NIBSS, Mr. Adebisi Shonubi, the mCASH initiative was born out of the need to enhance financial inclusion in Nigeria by extending e-payment benefits to payers and merchants operating at the local level, especially the small and medium-scale business owners.
“The intention is to expand the payment opportunity for people who still use cash today to find a more convenient means of making payments. To ensure the paradigm shift, we had to promote an ecosystem partnership consisting of banks and telecommunication companies, thereby birthing what has become a novel collaboration anywhere in the world – a service that is not one bank or one telco-driven but which is ecosystem-driven,” Shonubi said.
To allay the fears of users over possible electronic frauds, NIBSS had disclosed that every transaction via the mCASH electronic payment platform enjoyed a maximum insurance cover of N50,000.
Speaking on the benefits of mCASH as against other platforms, Shonubi said the insurance cover was meant to enhance confidence in the platform, adding that NIBSS and telecommunication companies (telcos) had also upgraded mCASH to deter SIM swaps related and other types of frauds.
