The Central Bank of Nigeria says it will soon commence a comprehensive review of the nation’s electronic payment guidelines.
The Deputy Governor, Operations Directorate, Central Bank of Nigeria, Alhaji Suleiman Barau, said this at the 2014 annual retreat of the Committee of e-Banking Industry Heads held in Abuja on Friday.
In a keynote address entitled, “Payments System Vision 2020 – Creating enabling environment through regulatory framework”, Barau said that the review of guidelines was to build on the success recorded in the promotion of e-payment in the country.
The move, he said, would lead to further adoption of e-payments system in certain sectors of the economy.
Barau was represented by the Director, Banking and Payment System Department, Mr. Dipo Fatokun.
A statement by CEBIH quoted him as saying, “The Central Bank of Nigeria is poised to stimulate acceptance and usage of the payments system. Therefore, the Payments System Vision 2020 outlined a number of initiatives to catalyse the adoption of electronic payments system in certain sectors including, agriculture, transport, hotels and entertainment, education, health, smart cities, bill payment and government flows.
“In this regard, the CBN is committed to reviewing the following regulations: mobile payments regulatory framework, guidelines on stored value/prepaid cards which was issued during the course of the year as guidelines for card issuance and usage in Nigeria; guidelines for point-of-sales card acceptance services; revised Nigeria bankers clearing house rules; guidelines for cheque truncation; direct debit rules; guidelines on transaction switching services; operational rules and regulations of the Nigeria central switch; and guidelines on ATM operations.”
In a similar vein, the deputy governor said the CBN had issued earlier in the year, the revised guidelines on the electronic payments of salaries, pensions, suppliers and taxes in Nigeria; guidelines on international remittances services; and the review of the operations of the NIP.”
The Chairman of CeBIH, Mr. Tunde Kuponiyi, said that although the industry had recorded tremendous progress in terms of electronic payment system, the benefits were yet to reach every segment of the society.
Kuponiyi, who is also the Head, Cards/e-Banking, Ecobank Nigeria, added that “the payment system today is vibrant, robust and technologically superior with multiple payment instruments, multiple access points and delivery channels to choose from.
“However, the benefit of modern payment system is yet to fully percolate to all segments of the society. As a result, a substantial portion of the population is still outside the realm of the formal and modern payment system.
“Thus the stage is set for all of us especially the banks and the Central Bank of Nigeria along with other stakeholders in the industry to collaborate with each other in a co-operative effort to expand the reach of the banking sector and modern payment systems by making all efforts towards the realisation of the PSV 2020 20.” Agency report
