Point of Sale Transactions Hit N634bn in Q1 2019

• 38.69m bank customers now enrolled on BVN platform

Obinna Chima

The value of transactions through point of sales (PoS) channels nationwide stood at N633.804 billion between January and March 2019, figures compiled from the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) have revealed.

This represents an increase of 33 per cent, compared with the first three months of 2018 which was N474.730 billion and 121 per cent when compared with the first three months of 2017, which was N285 billion.

However, compared with the last three months of 2018, which was N714 billion, the amount represented a decline by 11 per cent.

The data showed that as at the end of January 2019, the value of PoS transaction was N222.921 billion. This represented an increase by 46 per cent and 114 per cent compared with the N152.099 billion recorded in January 2018 and the N91.290 billion achieved in January 2017.

As of February 2019, the total value of PoS transactions was N193 billion, which was higher than the N144.876 billion recorded in February 2018; just as the value of transactions also jumped by 22 per cent from the N177.755 billion attained in March 2018, to N217.457 billion as of March 2019.

Conversely, in terms of volume of PoS transactions, the NIBSS data revealed that as of January 2019, it was 28,162,720. This represented an increase by 75 per cent in one year, compared with the 16,102,960 realised in January, 2018. As at February 2019, the total volume of PoS transactions was 25,778,640 and 29,820,750 as of March 2019.

The data also put the total value of electronic bills transactions in the country as at June 2019 at N281.563 billion, higher than the N256.61 billion recorded in the first six months of 2018.

A breakdown of the figures for 2019 showed that as at January 2019, e-bills payment stood at N49.763 billion; February – N44.948 billion; March –N46.933 billion; April – N47.858 billion; May – N49.306 billion and June – N42.755 billion.

The NIBSS also put the total number of Bank Verification Number (BVN) enrolment as at August 4, at 38,696,142.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had issued guidelines for PoS in Nigeria to provide minimum standards and requirements for the operation of the payment system.

Part of the guidelines states that all industry stakeholders who process and/or store cardholder information shall ensure that their terminals, applications and processing systems comply with the minimum requirements of the following Standards and Best Practices (for PCI, the minimum requirement will be level 2.1).

“In addition, all terminals, applications and processing systems should also comply with the standards specified by the various card schemes. Each vendor must provide valid certificates showing compliance with these standards and must regularly review status of all its terminals to ensure they are still compliant.

“There will be a continuous review and recertification on compliance with these and other global industry standards from time to time.

“Only CBN licensed financial and non- financial institutions shall serve as merchant acquirers. Merchant acquirers can own PoS terminals, but shall only deploy and support PoS terminals through a CBN licensed Payment Terminal Services Provider (PTSP).

“Merchant acquirers shall ensure that PoS terminals purchased and deployed at merchant/retailer locations through CBN licensed Payment Terminal Services Provider shall accept all cards (card agnostic),” part of the guidelines stated.