PoS terminals on the rise despite varying challenges

In spite of the various economic challenges facing Point of Sales (PoS) businesses in Nigeria, transactions via the method rose to N735.6 billion in September 2022. This is according to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).

Some of the challenges experienced by PoS businesses around the country include delays in the reversal of money, cost of acquiring terminals, network problems; bank/customers issues; security; poor power supply, among others.

Despite all these, the NIBSS stated that the volume of transactions on PoS increased massively. The volume reportedly rose by 14 per cent year on year to 100.4 million in September 2022.

According to the NIBSS, these transactions were executed over 1.484 million active terminals deployed by merchants in various parts of the country.

This means that in the last nine months, a total of 568,488 additional PoS terminals triggered the rise in number. As of December 2021, the number of deployed machines stood at 915,519.

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In Nigeria, the rise in PoS terminals is bridging the gap created by the shortage of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) deployed by banks. Following the introduction of the PoS, many Nigerians now withdraw through PoS agents.

The report also indicated that transactions worth N32.8 trillion were performed electronically in September. This brought the total value of e-payment transactions in the last nine months to N271.5 trillion.

According to NIBSS, year on year, the e-payment value rose by 39.5 per cent compared with the N23.5 trillion recorded in September 2021.

However, the September 2022 figure was saw a 1.2 per cent reduction compared with the value of e-payment transactions recorded across the country in August, which was given as N33.2 trillion.