Increased Collaboration To Boost Nigeria’S Payment System

9Payment Service Bank (9PSB), Nigeria’s digital payment service bank, has emphasized that the future growth of the payment system in Nigeria is reliant on the country’s evolving payment ecosystems and increased collaborative activities among players and stakeholders in the financial space. This statement was made by Nasiru Isyaku, the Executive Director of Finance and Banking Operations at the recent Nigeria Fintech Forum held in Lagos. Isyaku was representing Branka Mracajac, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of 9PSB.

In his keynote address entitled “Resilient, Robust, Reliable: Building the Future of Payment Service Bank in Nigeria,” Isyaku highlighted the vision of payment service banks in Nigeria, which is to enhance the nation’s payment systems by providing registered users with affordable, accessible, and convenient digital payment options. He stressed that 9PSB’s core responsibility is to bridge the financial exclusion gap by delivering practical solutions that bring smiles to the faces of Nigerians, such as onboarding and recording their payment behaviors to build wealth assessment models using alternative data.

Isyaku also emphasized the importance of effective partnerships between players and regulators in creating new payment systems from scratch that can be replicated on a global scale. He predicted that real-time payments will become the norm, both domestically and internationally, with consumers and businesses swiftly adapting to cashless transactions. Furthermore, he anticipates the prevalence of mobile wallets, digital currencies, and open banking systems in the industry.

One compelling aspect of payment service banks is their utilization of existing infrastructure for citizens who are already onboarded through the National Identification Number (NIN) and Bank Verification Number (BVN), according to Isyaku.