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Nigeria’s Digital Banking Transactions to Add $6bn to GDP by 2026 — Report

Nigeria’s Digital Banking Transactions to Add $6bn to GDP by 2026 — Report

Nigeria’s economy has greatly been reaping the benefits of real-time and digital banking transformation in the last few years with the country recording 3.7 billion real-time transactions in 2021, valued at $3.2 billion which may rise to $6 billion by 2026, a report said.

Nigeria’s real-time and digital payments revolution is driving economic growth and financial inclusion at unprecedented levels for the largest African economy, according to the third edition of Prime Time for Real-Time, published by ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), in partnership with GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

The report, titled, ‘Tracking real-time payments volumes and growth across 53 countries’, includes an economic impact study for the first time, providing a comprehensive view of the economic benefits of real- time payments for consumers, businesses, and the broader economy across 30 countries.

The report reveals Nigeria as Africa’s undisputed real- time and digital payments leader.

The country recorded 3.7 billion real-time transactions in 2021, ranking sixth in the league table of the world’s most developed real-time payments markets behind India, China, Thailand, Brazil, and South Korea.

The widespread uptake of new digital and real-time payments services in Nigeria helped unlock $3.2 billion of additional economic output in 2021, representing 0.67 percent of the country’s GDP.

In 2026, real-time transactions are forecast to rise 8.8 billion in 2026, a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.6 percent.
This will help unlock $6 billion of additional GDP in 2026, representing 1.01 percent of the country’s GDP.

This means Nigeria ranks in 4th place among the world’s economies realising the maximum economic benefits of real-time payments.

According to Santhosh Rao, Head of Middle East, Africa, andSouthAsia, ACIWorldwide, “Nigeria is fast becoming a poster child across Africa for the successful digital transformation of the country’s economy.

“Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigerians increasingly expect higher speeds, greater simplicity, and modern thinking from financial service providers.

While cash is still being used widely, the shift towards greater adoption of digital and real-time payments services is testament to the success of government regulators in fostering rapid growth in digital openness, particularly payments.”

Also Read: Banks Must Partner with Fintech to Accelerate Digital Banking Transformation  – Experts

The rapid growth has also been propelled by key players in the country’s payments industry.
One of these players, Interswitch Group , a leading payments technology company, has been actively driving revolutionary payment innovation in Nigeria for 20 years.

In recent years, Interswitch has partnered with ACI to deploy cutting-edge technologies that are changing the face of payments in Nigeria.

These innovative products include single- issuing platforms for all payment types, digital payment acceptance for acquirers, enterprise payment platforms and secure omni-channel payment processing platforms, among others.

Rao said, “As more Nigerians continue to adopt real-time and digital payments, we have seen a commensurate increase in the need for backend infrastructure that enable these transactions,” explained Jonah Adams, Managing Director, Digital Infrastructure and Managed Services, Interswitch Systegra.

“Interswitch and ACI are committed to driving digital transformation across Africa via the deployment of relevant digital, innovative infrastructure and solutions that optimize business efficiency and drive customers’ growth and profitability.

“Our research shows that governments that advance the real-time modernization of their national payments infrastructure create a win-win situation for all stakeholders in the payments ecosystem,” explained Rao.

“Consumers and businesses benefit from fast, frictionless and hyper-connected payments services, financial institutions future-proof their business in a highly competitive environment by speeding up cloud-first and data-centric modernisation, and national governments boost economic growth, reduce the size of their shadow economy and create a fairer financial system for all.”

(Independent)

About Bukola Olanrewaju

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