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Tag: NIBSS

  • Heritage Bank integrates into NIBSS Instant Pay

    Heritage Bank integrates into NIBSS Instant Pay

    In its commitment to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) cash-less banking initiative and providing quality service to its customers, Heritage Bank Limited has been integrated into the Instant Pay Platform of the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS).

    NIBSS explained that with this development, new and existing customers of the bank can make payment and transfer funds through Point of Sale terminal, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) across the country, and from any of the bank’s branches and electronic payment platforms.

    NIBSS communicated this development to banks and electronic payment firms saying, “Please be informed that Heritage Bank has been migrated to the Nigeria Instant Payment (NIP) production environment. Kindly accept all upstream transactions from them.”

    Managing Director/Chief Executive, Heritage Bank, Mr. Ifie Sekibo, said the integration reflects confidence in the robust information technology infrastructure and electronic payment platform of the bank.

    He said, “Most banks take quite a long time to integrate into the NIPS platform, but within a very short period of our existence, within two to three months, we have integrated into their system. Our entire payment platforms have been fully integrated. And we are functional, up and running. So for us it is a real ground breaking and record-setting achievement, and it reflects confidence from an e-payment switch like NIBSS.

    “Also it expands our business environment. We are now connected to other e-payment switches, banks, banking platforms. People can now use our internet banking platform to make instant payment for goods and services, make funds transfer to people in other banks, and vice versa. It is a seamless and full integration into the banking and e-payment platforms in the country.”

  • Vision 20:2020 for cash-less feasible, says NIBSS

    The vision of Nigeria to be among the top 20 economies in the world providing efficient e-payment services by the year 2020 will be achieved, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has said.

    NIBSS Executive Director, Business Development, Chritabel Onyejekwe disclosed this at the weekend during the 13th Card, ATM & Mobile Expo held in Lagos. She said the cash-less banking initiative has recorded huge success and has been able to drastically reduce banks’ operational costs significantly.

    She said NIBSS in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), banks and other international partners are committed to the journey of transformation for the e-payment industry via cash-less economy. He said all the parties agree that a lot of work needs to be done at the grassroots.

    She said SIBS International – a Portuguese firm has been supporting NIBSS in achieving the cash-less objective.

    Speaking at a press conference during the card expo, Managing Director, SIBS International, Pedro Hipolito, pledged the firm’s support towards the success of the cash-less policy initiative in the country.

    He explained that SIBS International, which is a global payment processors, provides flexible and innovative payment services through Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and Point of Sale (PoS) terminal services, network management, full issuing and acquiring transaction processing for clients.

    Hipolito said his firm was opening an office in Lagos in order to play a long-term proximity role in bringing the cash-less policy to fruition. He said the firm has been partnership with NIBSS since 2011.

    He said the firm’s intent in moving into Nigeria was to enable it assist the country in achieving a cash-less economy: “We are going to deepen our presence in Nigeria by opening an office here. This move signals our commitment towards supporting Nigeria’s quest for cash-less payment system. We will ensure that we have people on the ground to cultivate relationships and meaningful exchange of knowledge and also provide cutting edge technology towards that goal”, he said.

     

  • NIBBS daily operation worth N70.02b

    The Nigerian Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS) handles about 140, 344 transactions, worth N70.02 billion daily, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.

    The transactions, which were recorded across various electronic payment channels, indicated gradual acceptability of the cashless initiative in the country.

    The statistics also showed that NIBSS processes 6,749 instant payments, 99,602 electronic fund transfers and 33,993 cheque transactions daily.

    “With an aggregate of N70.2 billion daily, the transactions across the three e-channels are worth N5.66 billion, N40 billion and N24.7 billion ,” the statement said.

    CBN Head, Shared Services, Mr Chidi Umeano, said the cash-less initiative hass gained since the beginning of the year. NIBSS has continued to process 4.2 million monthly inter-bank, instant payment and cheque transactions, he stated.

    Industry observers said the N70.02 billion daily transactions amount to N2.2 trillion in a month, adding that the figure would be higher if the trend continues.

    The Chief Executive Officer, Mobile Money Africa, Mr Emmanuel Okowgale, said the cash-less initiative has brighter prospects, if things go according to plans.

    He said the cash-less project would yield more financial values to the industry as time went on, advising Nigerians to continue to appreciate the beauty of using e-payment channels for transactions.

    He said mobile payment system has worked in Kenya, among other countries, arguing that it is taking shape in Nigeria.

    In a related development, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NIBSS, Mr Adebisi Shonubi, said continued encouragement of the use of PoS terminals is critical to the success of the cash-less initiative.

    “We strongly believe that the enhancement of PoS adoption relies on high PoS availability and connectivity and consequently the expansion of telco facilities beyond the conventional GPRS to CDMAs.”

    Shonubi argued that the Nigerians possessed the acumen required for the success of the cash-less project.

    On his part, the CBN Deputy Governor, Mr Tunde Lemo, said the number of deployed and active PoS terminals had grown from 5,557 as at January 2012 to 104,858 by October 14, 2012.

    Lemo, who was represented at a forum in Lagos by an official of Shared Services Department, CBN, Mr Chimene Eleonu, said another 176,604 PoS terminals were already registered.

    He lamented the huge gap between registered and deployed PoS, arguing that the gap was due to lack of capacity on the part of the payments terminal service providers to meet PoS demand.

  • NIBSS, NIMC tackle e-payment frauds

    From left: Aladekomo; Executive Director, Business Development, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBBS), Mrs Christabel Onyejekwe and Shonubi during Aladekomo’s visit to NIBBS headquaters in Lagos.

    The Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) is poised to tackle electronic payment fraud, its Managing Director, Mr Ade Osinubi, has said.
    Osinubi said it was necessary to improve electronic payment transactions and engender growth in the economy.
    Speaking during a visit of the management of the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS) to NIBBS‘s head office in Lagos, Osinubi said efforts were being made among the stakeholders in the financial chains to rid the country of fraud in the electronic payment system and allied areas.

    He said partnerships are evolving to reduce the hiccups in the electronic modes of payments, and further reduce the cost of managing cash in the economy.

    Osinubi said electronic frauds hinder the growth of the financial sector and the economy, stressing that the only way to check the malaise is to fight it headlong.

    He said there iwas the need to take security serious in the information and technology (IT)-driven society, adding that customers and financial institutions must be alert to reduce the fraud.

    NCS President Mr Demola Aladekomo said NIBBS has helped to implement the cheque truncation policy, among other measures put in place to enhance the quality of e-payment transactions.
    He said more needed to be done to make e-payment transactions free of fraud.

    Also, Chief Executive Officer, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Mr Chris Onyemenan, a lawyer, said the agency would help in reducing fraudulent practices in the financial industry.

    Onyemenan told The Nation that the leadership of NIMC would develop a central national database, multi-factor authentication system and enrolment and card issuing services to identify all Nigerians and plug the loopholes through which fraud could perpetrated.
    Others, he said, are development of identification and verification processes in Nigeria to foster the growth of the country.
    He said the implementation of the unique identification number (UIM) project of the NIMC in particular was crucial to the success of the electronic payment system initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN).