… as number of bank account holders rise to 160m
The total monetary value of Point of Sale transactions recorded within the first five months of this year is estimated at N1.64trillion, according to data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System.
The figure is contained in the NIBSS Report, which covers a four-year period, from May 2017 to May 2020.
The increase recorded in the first five months of 2020 was against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a lockdown across states, including the Federal Capital Territory.
The spread of the pandemic had led to reduction and discouragement of cash transactions, coupled with the closure of banks and businesses dealing in non- essential goods during the lockdown.
NIBSS disclosed that the N1.64trillion transaction took place from a total of 228.85 million POS transactions across the country between January to May 2020,
The N1.64trillion recorded in the five-month period represents a N500.8billion or 49 per cent rise, when compared to the N1.14trillion recorded within the same period of 2019.
According to NIBSS, the POS transactions recorded between March and May 2020, which also covers the period of the lockdown, was 141.5 million, with monetary value of N999billion.
Also, the number of POS terminals deployed increased by 22,440, in the period under review in 2020, to 325,602, from the 303,162 as of December 2019.
Analysis of the data further showed that 19, 877 of the total POS Terminals deployed was recorded between March and May, which was the period when the lockdown was at its peak.
The NIBSS data also showed that the total number of bank account holders in the country rose from 122 million to 160 million during a one-year period, covering May 2019 and May 2020.
According to NIBSS, the 160 million bank customers as of May this year represents an increase of 30.2 per cent.
Despite the negative impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, the NIBSS data showed that over 29.67 million new bank accounts were opened during the period of the health crisis.
The data showed that between January and May this year, the number of account holders grew by 35 million.
Further breakdown of the data showed that the country had 111.53 million active accounts, out of the 160 million as of May this year.
The NIBSS data showed that total current account holders dropped in May 2020 to 25.17 million, from 29.15 million recorded in May 2019.
Similarly, the number of savings account holders rose to 129.9 million in May 2020 from the 89.59 million recorded in May last year.
