Market News

Opay will begin charging customers a N50 levy on electronic transfers of N10,000 and above paid into their accounts from September 9, 2024.

The fintech revealed this in a message to customers titled ‘FGN Electronic Money Transfer levy’, which started making rounds on Saturday. The company said, “Please be informed that starting September 9th 2024, a one-time fee of N50 will be applied to electronic transfers of N10,000 and above paid into your personal or business account, in compliance with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) regulations.

The fintech noted that it would not benefit from this charge as it is directly paid to the Federal Government. The fintech already charges customers N10 after their third transfer to other banks in a day.

EMTL, introduced in the Finance Act 2020, was an amendment to the Stamp Duty Act to tap into the growth of electronic transfers. It is a one-off charge of N50 on electronic receipt or transfer of money deposited in any deposit bank or financial institution on any type of account for sums of N10,000 and above.

In 2023, the Federal government made N180.31 billion from EMTL, a 29.45 percent increase from its N136.35 billion target. Revenue from EMTL is shared among the three tiers of government. The growth in EMTL revenue is expected to be fuelled by further increases in cashless transactions in the country, especially with the Central Bank of Nigeria anticipating a slowdown in cash usage by 2025.

By the end of 2023, cashless transactions surged to over N600 trillion from N395.38 trillion in 2022 as more Nigerians embraced digital payment channels. This trend continued in 2024, with transactions growing by 88.09 percent to N237 trillion in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024.

However, revenues from EMTL have not reflected this growth. According to experts’ micro transactions, defined as transfers below N10,000, and their platforms, such as Opay and Palmpay, are powering Nigeria’s electronic payment (e-payment) boom.

Opay, which has over 30 million customers, was one of the winners of the 2023 Central Bank of Nigeria’s botched naira redesign and cashless policy when it demonstrated resilience during the naira cash shortage that exposed vulnerabilities in many traditional banking platforms.

“Payment methods have become easier, faster, and better, and people are using them for everyday things,” said Adedeji Olowe, founder of Lendsqr.