THUR JULY 30 2026-theGBJournal| Nigeria’s digital payments surged in 2025 as consumers and businesses accelerated the shift to electronic channels, pushing transaction values above ₦3,400 trillion.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, however, warned that growing dependence on a handful of payment providers, weak interoperability and rising cyber threats pose significant risks to the financial system
The value of electronic payment transactions rose 26.1% to ₦3,458.77 trillion in 2025, while transaction volumes increased 2.6% to 47.88 billion, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s 2025 Annual Report released on Wednesday.
The growth reflected stronger adoption of digital payment channels, expanding e-commerce activity, improved payment infrastructure and changing consumer preferences.
Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transactions recorded the fastest growth among major payment channels, with transaction volumes jumping 61.9% to 1.66 billion.
USSD transactions increased 20.9% to 669.55 million, while Point-of-Sale (PoS) transactions rose 19.8% to 15.66 billion. By contrast, transaction volumes through mobile banking apps, internet banking and direct debits declined during the year.
Mobile money operators also posted robust growth as agency banking expanded across the country.
Transaction volumes climbed 65.8% to 28.74 billion, while transaction values increased 81.3% to ₦372.14 trillion, driven by increased agent onboarding, advances in digital financial services and broader industry collaboration.
The migration to digital payments continued to erode cheque usage. The value of cheque transactions plunged 49.8% to ₦1.84 trillion, while transaction volumes fell 57.8% to 1.49 million.
The CBN said it is working with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) to introduce e-cheque and QR code capabilities to modernise cheque-based payments.
Large-value interbank settlements also expanded sharply.
Transactions processed through the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system rose 10.7% in volume to 429,388, while transaction values more than doubled, increasing 107.4% to ₦454.60 trillion, reflecting stronger economic activity and higher-value transfers.
The apex bank also approved Globus Bank as a settlement bank, raising the number of settlement banks to 17.
Despite the strong growth, the CBN cautioned that vulnerabilities within the payments ecosystem are increasing.
It said tighter integration between banks and fintech companies means the failure of a major payment service provider could quickly spread across the financial system.
About 50% of fintech stakeholders surveyed by the central bank rated industry-wide interoperability as poor, citing the absence of universal application programming interfaces (APIs) and common data-sharing standards.
The regulator also warned that the dominance of a few systemically important payment service providers could create a “domino effect” if one experiences operational disruptions or insolvency.
The report identified cybercrime as another growing threat, saying banks and fintech firms have become prime targets for ransomware attacks, data breaches and identity theft, with attacks becoming increasingly organised and sophisticated.
Digital payment fraud losses declined to ₦25.85 billion in 2025 from ₦52.26 billion a year earlier, reflecting stronger monitoring systems, tighter controls and the integration of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) with the National Identification Number (NIN).
Nevertheless, the CBN said the losses remain substantial, particularly for payment service providers with weak fraud detection systems.
The central bank also warned against the activities of unlicensed payment operators, saying they expose users to regulatory risks, facilitate money laundering and could undermine confidence in Nigeria’s rapidly expanding digital payments ecosystem.
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