The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reported a significant shift in the country’s payment landscape, with Point-of-Sale (PoS) transactions in 2024 surpassing Automated Teller Machine (ATM) usage by 603%.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has estimated that point-of-sale (PoS) transactions will outnumber Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transactions by 603% in 2024. In the first half of 2024, Nigerians made transactions of ₦85.91 trillion through PoS terminals, while they made ₦12.21 trillion through ATMs, according to the CBN’s quarterly data report.
This pattern suggests that Nigerians are increasingly choosing digital payment options. In the first half of 2024, there were 6.39 billion PoS transactions, up 29% from 4.97 billion in the second half of 2023.
On the other hand, the number of ATM transactions increased by around 1%, from 492.76 million to 496.44 million, while the value of these transactions decreased by 10% over the same period.
PoS’s rapidity and ease of use for routine purchases, together with Nigeria’s growing acceptance of cashless transactions, are the main reasons for its spike in popularity.
This transition was further aided by a 20% increase in the number of deployed PoS terminals, which increased from 2.45 million in the second half of 2023 to 2.94 million in the first half of 2024.
The CBN has taken action to guarantee cash availability in response to the decreasing reliance on ATMs. Nine deposit banks were recently fined a total of ₦1.35 billion by the CBN for their failure to guarantee that cash was available through ATMs.
