Banks, Switches Make N3.7B from ATMs

Nigerian banks raked in some N3.7 billion from cash withdrawals from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in the past five years, underscoring the growing importance of the super device used by bank customers to process account transactions, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek has learnt.
Jim Ovia, managing director, Zenith Bank, said at the just concluded World Information Technology conference in Abuja, that total transactions at the over 8,138 ATMs across the country stood at 114.1 million.
Inter bank transactions, the network that connects the ATMs of different banks and permits them to interact with the ATM cards of non-native banks, stood at 37.4 million as at March 31, 2009 on the Interswitch Network.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that banks charge N100 per inter bank transaction out of which  N35 belongs to the switching company on whose platform the exchange is made, and the remaining N65 shared between the bank that owns the ATM and the bank which issued the card used in the transaction.
There has been a tremendous increase in the use of electronic payment system in the country, especially ATM - a situation heightened with the adoption of the e-payment system by the federal government.
Ovia said that rapid technological advancements and increasing consumer demand will result in positive transition towards increased acceptance of electronic payment systems and channels.
He added that efficient, reliable and secured electronic payment has the capability of saving one per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Zenith Bank boss noted that in spite of the progress recorded in the country’s economy through the system, there is still high dependency on cash and cheques, with N1trillion cash in circulation as at 31 March 2009.
There has been an increase in the deployment of ATMs by banks both within and outside their premises.