CBN to boost payment system standard, reduce currency management cost

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it is determined to boost Nigeria’s payment system standard by upscaling e-payment infrastructure.

Adefuye Adeyemi, Deputy Director, Payment System Management Department of the CBN, said this on Tuesday in Calabar, at the apex bank’s 34th seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors.

Our correspondent reports that the theme of Adeyemi’s paper was “Implementing a Robust Payment: Architecture: Prospects and Challenges.

According to him, the apex bank starts the idea of driving e-payment in 2007, when it imitated the Payment System Vision (PSV-2020).

“We have always had the vision to drive e-payment adoption in Nigeria. We want to reduce the volume of Naira in circulation, because it is actually a gain for the regulator.

“It is not only the printing of currency that costs money; management and operation of currency in circulation costs the regulator (CBN) a lot of money.

“The more we drive e-payment adoption, the lower the cost of printing and management of currency in the economy, ” he said.

According to him, the CBN has adopted PSV 2025 to further improve on e-payment infrastructure to enable larger volume e-transaction.

“From cash-based economy to cashless economy, and now to e-payment; we have made progress.

“If we want our payment system to be internationally recognised, we must benchmark it against international standards.

”The principle of financial market infrastructure is that we should adopt international standards,” he said.

He said that the apex bank would hire consultants to carry out a comprehensive audit of the country’s payment system in order to determine existing gaps and steps to take to bridge the gaps.