TheCable

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the banking sector recorded a total volume of 3.46 billion transactions via electronic payment channels, amounting to N356.47 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2020 (Q4 2020).

The figure represents a N36.48 trillion increase (11 percent) from N319.99 trillion posted in the third quarter of 2020 (Q3 2020).

According to the report titled, ‘Selected Banking Sector Data: Sectorial Breakdown of Credit, ePayment Channels and Staff Strength (Q4 2020)’, released on Sunday, online transfers accounted for the bulk of transactions during the period under review.

The data showed that online transfers accounted for 2.27 billion volume of transactions, valued at N120.27 trillion. The volume in Q4 2020 is 39.67 percent higher than figures recorded in Q3 2020.

Further disaggregation of electronic payment channels show that 5.5 million volume of transactions were done through cheques valued at N4.2 trillion during the period under review.

Automated teller machine (ATM) transactions recorded 455.25 million volume valued at N4.54 trillion in Q4 2020. The volume, however, declined 14.11 percent compared to the number of transactions recorded in Q3 2020.

A total of 214.84 million transactions were done using point of sale (POS) transactions, valued at N1.51 trillion during the period.

The volume of transactions through unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) surged 9 percent in Q4 2020 at 145.58 million valued at N1.63 trillion.

Transactions over mobile applications also increased by 10.80 percent in Q4 2020 at 124 million value at N9.9 trillion.