May 10, (THEWILL) — Nigerian banks, fintech platforms, and customers are enjoying the advantages of strategic commitments made by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) in developing a world-class e-payment system.
NIBSS is a shared service payment infrastructure company that facilitates electronic payments within the Nigerian financial system and acts as a central switch, ensuring interoperability between various financial institutions and enabling seamless electronic fund transfers and payments. Its continued infrastructure upgrade has transformed the digital space, uplifting e-transaction to a massive revenue spinning font.
Recent reports indicate that Nigeria’s leading commercial banks recorded a massive surge in digital activity, processing a combined N286.19 trillion in mobile banking transactions in 2025. The figure highlights how traditional banks are rapidly strengthening their digital platforms, while fintech companies continue to expand in the fast-growing payments sector on NIBSS elevated infrastructure.
Major players including Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), United Bank for Africa (UBA), Zenith Bank, and First Bank of Nigeria spent the past few years heavily upgrading their technology systems to improve speed, reliability, and customer experience across mobile and digital channels.
Specifically, GTBank led with N72.4 trillion in mobile transactions, followed by Zenith Bank at N104.14 trillion and UBA at N51.65 trillion. First Bank of Nigeria also posted strong momentum, recording N58 trillion in mobile transactions within just the first nine months of 2025, signaling an even stronger full-year performance.
This shift marks a turning point in Nigeria’s digital payments ecosystem. Between 2020 and 2023, fintech platforms dominated everyday transactions due to faster services and fewer system disruptions. However, that advantage is now shrinking as banks modernise infrastructure and improve service delivery, reducing the need for customers to rely solely on fintech apps.
To catch up, banks have invested heavily in technology upgrades, spending over N415.36 billion on core banking systems since 2024. These improvements have boosted transaction success rates and uptime, while also increasing digital revenue streams. At the same time, competition is evolving beyond payments, with focus now shifting to lending, savings products, customer rewards, and broader financial services as Nigeria’s digital economy matures.
On the same growth trajectory, NIBSS infrastructure revolution propelled Q1 2026 digital banking revenue by providing robust, instant payment systems (NIP) and the new National Payment Stack, which boosted transaction volumes and enhanced interbank interoperability. This enabled over 67 million BVN registrations, fueling widespread mobile banking and 79 percent growth in POS transaction value.
The NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) platform continues to be the backbone for digital transactions, processing billions of transactions securely and providing a window for massive revenue stream for the banks and fintech companies while employment opportunities expand.
The National Payment Stack (NPS) launched in late 2025, is a unified, modernised infrastructure window that enables instant, millisecond-speed transactions across fintechs and banks, facilitating a surge in high-volume, low-value payments.
Reports also showed that NIBSS supported 5.56 million active PoS terminals as of late 2024 which has continued to surge in 2026 after hitting approximately 5.9 million in late March2025, providing crucial infrastructure that allows banks to generate revenue through agency banking networks, especially in cash-scarce areas.
Another area is digital identity & security. The reliance on the BVN system to instantly validate identities enabled safer, faster digital account opening and fraud reduction, boosting consumer trust in digital channels. Also, the implementation of the National Quick Response (NQR) code system facilitated easy P2B and P2P payments, reducing reliance on cash and driving transactional revenue for banks.
This digital revolution, anchored by NIBSS, has helped banks significantly boost revenue from transaction fees, mobile app transfers, and electronic services, even with recent operational caps on agent transactions.
2026 transactions outlook
Findings showed that NIBSS infrastructure enhancements significantly boosted Nigerian banks’ Q1 2026 revenue, with PoS transaction values alone surging by 79.03 percent to N18.78 trillion, driven by improved digital payment adoption and operational efficiency following these other windows:
Enhanced NIBSS Instant Payments (NIP) infrastructure, which experienced a 120 percent rise in transaction volume over two years, increased commission income from inter-bank transfers. The New Quick Response (NQR) platform enabled cost-effective, high-volume transactions for SMEs, boosting fee income from digital merchant payments.
Also, improvements in NIBSS infrastructure supported high-frequency USSD transactions, driving revenue through service charges on mobile transfers, while rapid expansion of electronic payment channels, supported by NIBSS, increased taxable transactions, boosting bank revenue from stamp duties.
Integration with third-party payment providers, accelerated by NIBSS’ secure, API-driven infrastructure, expanded the transaction fee pool for banks. The full operationalisation of contactless payments provided new fee-earning opportunities for banks as digital payment adoption grew.
The shift to a “Hyper-Converged Infrastructure” and over 90 percent migration of applications helped banks lower operational expenditure, increasing net earnings.
NIBSS’ centralised “HAWK” fraud management solution reduced disputes and transaction reversals, allowing banks to retain revenue from secure, successful transactions as dedicated industry-wide dispute service has been implemented, making it easier for customers to get refunds on failed transactions.
While cash remains important, these advancements have made digital transactions the preferred, safer, and more convenient option for everyday transactions, shifting the economy away from heavy cash reliance, according to reports from NIBSS.
NIBSS’ inner recess
The kernel of NIBSS functions centres on interoperability, that is enabling all banks, mobile payment operators, and other financial institutions to send, receive, and process funds and other instruments electronically through a common channel, instantly.
In a broader sphere, the platform provides the infrastructure support that drives the financial services industry, especially the payment systems, towards advancing business opportunities.
As an enabler, NIBSS is engaged in a silent revolution of the financial services sector which is “hidden” from the prying eyes of the public.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
