Latest report of the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) accessed by Business Hilights has once again, exposed the inadequacies of Automated Teller Machines (ATM) deployed across the federation.
According to the statistics, the number of ATM deployed in the country though, rose slightly from 17,594 to 17,712, to serve 63 million active bank customers across the country; it further shows that one ATM serves an average of 3,556 customers which experts say is grossly inadequate.
However, ATM transaction volume had risen from 179 million in the first three months of the year to 326.77 million while the value of transactions stood at N3.05 trillion by June ending from N1.5 trillion as at March.
Within the period under review, mobile money transactions also continued to gain traction as the number of customers rose to 2.3 million from 1.2 million recorded in March while the number of agents stood at 5,517 from 2,174. Mobile money transaction volume for the half year period was 24.17 million up from 12.6 million while the value of transactions done via the platform stood at N555.83 billion, up from N260.6 billion.
Besides, the number of Bank Verification Number (BVN) issued rose by 8.07 per cent to 29.653 as at July 9 compared to 29.415 million registered as at June 18, 2017.
Whereas total bank customers as at February this year stands at 63 million holding 98 million bank accounts, active accounts however stand at 67 million. The number of savings account in the country currently stands at 70 million while there are 25 million current accounts.
Additional data sourced from the NIBSS also revealed that Nigerians in the first six months of the year spent N40.607 trillion through the electronic platforms in the country, increasing electronic transactions by 100.5 per cent compared to the N20.245 trillion figure recorded as at March 2017.
The N40.607 trillion figure recorded as at June 2017 which is asides cash transactions was done via the Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP), ATM, Point of Sale (PoS), ebills, web payments, mobile money and cheques.
NIP which accounted for the largest value had 105.48 million transactions and a value of N26.49 trillion as at June 2017 compared to 69.66 million transactions and a value of N13.13 trillion recorded as at March 2017.
The volume of transactions done via the NEFT platform rose to 11.5 million by the end of June from 5.78 million as at March while value rose from N3 trillion to N6 trillion. Electronic bills payment transaction volume was 0.52 million, up from 0.29 million while value rose to N292 billion up from N159 billion.
Also, within the period, web payment transaction volume stood at 11.49 million at the end of June from 5.52 million as at March this year while value rose to N83.67 billion from N46.57 billion. The volume of cheques processed also rose to 5.3 million by the end of the first half of the year from 2.65 million recorded in the first quarter while value stood at N2.78 trillion, up from N1.45 trillion.
