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E-payment transaction surpassed the 1trillion mark in the first six months of this year, the Central Bank of Nigeria, has revealed. The bank stated this in its economic report for the first half of 2012 and also described the growth of ATM use and its contribution to electronic transactions. The CBN has been campaigning for a cashless economy for months now, and the campaigns have led organizations to adopt e-payment channels for purchases. In the report, the CBN stated that, “The value of electronic card (E-card) transactions rose by 32.8 per cent to N1, 014.71 billion in the first half of 2012 from N764.14 billion in the first half of 2011, while the volume increased from 167,962,665 in the first half of 2011 to 185,078,223 in the period under review. Data on various e-payment channels for the period under review indicated that Automated Teller Machine (ATM) remained the most patronized, accounting for 96.4 per cent, followed by mobile payments with 1.3 per cent and POS terminals, 1.2 per cent.” “The web (internet) was the least patronized, accounting for only 1.1 per cent of total e-payment transactions. In value terms, ATM accounted for 90.8 per cent; POS, 2.5 per cent; the web (Internet), 4.9 per cent; while mobile payments accounted for 1.8 per cent. The number of ATMs stood at 10,221 as at end-June 2012. The volume of ATM transactions amounted to 178,421,736 compared with 164,755,055 in the first half of 2011, and represented an increase of 8.3 per cent. The value of ATM transactions, also, increased during the period to N937.39 billion from N698.19 billion representing an increase of 34.3 per cent. The development reflected the increasing popularity of the mode of payment by the public.” “Internet payments increased by 74.8 and 9.3 per cent to 2,103.4 and N50.4 billion in volume and value, respectively, in the review period; the rise was due to increased acceptance of the use of online payments. The first half of 2012 witnessed an increase in the volume and value terms of on-line POS transactions.” Download Full Report