Digital finance’ll enhance payment

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that the advent of digital finance would enhance faster payment and promote efficiency of monetary mechanisms.

Director, Monetary policy Department, CBN, Mr Hassan Mahmud who stated this in Enugu at CBN seminar organized for financial journalists and business editors said that digital financial ecosystems help to reduce the amount of currency in circulation.

Mahmud stated that with the increased adoption of digital finance, the constant substitution of e- money for cash will enhance the efficient monetary policy implementation.

He said with digital innovation, there is a persistent rise in the value of ATM and POS transactions in the country.

He said as at the fourth quarter of 2021, the value of ATM transaction equalled N1.8 billion while the value of OPS transactions stood at N1.3 billion.

The growth according to him reflects increase in financial inclusion.

He said that Nigeria records a high growth of digital financial channel utilisation, adding that available data showed a rise of 30 per cent in the total population who carries out digital transactions.

He stated that although the growth of other mobile platform have been quite low, but between 2011 and 2017, debit card ownership has grown by 30 per cent.