Market News

By Elizabeth Adegbesan

The value of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transactions fell year-on-year (YoY) by 13.6 percent to N28.2 trillion in 2023 from N32.65 trillion in 2022.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, disclosed this in its March 2024 statistical bulletin.

Details of the data showed that volume of ATM transactions also declined YoY by 7 million or 0.5 percent to 1.38 billion in 2023 from 1.387 billion in 2022.

However, the volume and value of Web Pay or internet transactions grew during the period surpassing that of ATM transactions.

Further details of the data showed the value of internet transactions grew YoY by 40 percent to N1,097 trillion in 2023 from    N783.66 trillion in 2022.

Similarly, the volume of transactions done through the internet increased YoY by 54.7 percent to 21.75 billion from 14.06 billion in 2022.

The decline in the volume and value of transactions reflects the effect of the cash scarcity during the first quarter of 2023 resulting from the redesigning of the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes by the past administration in a bid to rein in inflation and mop up currency outside banks.

This led to the increased  use of internet banking, mobile transfer, wallets and Point of Sale (PoS) for payment transactions.

The increase in adoption of digital payment systems in Nigeria can be attributed to the various policies of the CBN to grow financial inclusion and meet its cashless policy target.