Seven Nigerian banks made N108.4 billion from electronic banking in 2023.
This is according to their audited results for 2023, which showed a 23.60 percent increase from the N87.7 billion they made in 2022, underscoring strong cashless transaction growth in the country.
Generally, the banks recorded a 35.6 percent increase in fees and commission income to N482.04 billion in the year being reported. The banks include First Bank Holdings (FBNH), Fidelity Bank, FCMB Group, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Sterling Bank, Wema Bank, and Jaiz Bank.
Findings showed that financial institutions are using fintech products to boost their operations and enhance customer satisfaction by introducing applications that facilitate transactions.
“The increase in electronic banking income is attributable to the Q1 cash scarcity because the period revealed that there is no transaction without being cashless hence, banks had to make their IT infrastructure functional to enable them to gain traction from their end, which led to increase in revenue from the income scheme,” Nabila Mohammed, research analyst at Chapel Hill Denham explained to BusinessDay earlier.
According to the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), cashless payments grew to N611.06 trillionn in 2023 from N395.38 trillion as of the end of 2022.
The NIBSS records cashless transactions from the Nigeria Instant Payment System and Point of Sales terminals. The total value of instant payment in 2023 was N600.36 trillion, and point of sales was N10.7 trillion.
Instant payment channels, including mobile, recorded a usage volume of 9.67 billion, and PoS terminals recorded 1.38 billion. Cashless transactions in the country were partly bolstered by a now abandoned Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign policy and withdrawal limits from December 2022.
After announcing a limit on transactions, the apex bank said, “Customers should be encouraged to use alternative channels (Internet banking, mobile banking apps, USSD, cards/POS, eNaira, etc.) to conduct their banking transactions.”
BusinessDay analysis revealed that FBN Holding reported N66 billion in e-banking revenue among the surveyed banks. In fees and commission income, Stanbic IBTC Holdings reported N206.9 billion in the period under review.
Bank analysis:
FBNH
First Bank’s full-year 2023 financials showed electronic banking income stood at N66 billion, a 20 percent increase from N55 billion in 2022.
The holding company recorded N204.9 billion as fees and commission income in 2023, a 42.3 percent increase from N143.9 billion in 2022.
Stanbic IBTC
Stanbic IBTC grew its e-banking revenue by 76 percent in 2023 to N4.4 billion, up from N2.5 billion in the corresponding period last year.
The bank recorded N117.8 billion as fees and commission income in 2023, up 22.7 percent from N96 billion in 2022.
FCMB
FCMB recorded a 26 percent increase in its e-banking revenue to N17.6 billion, up from N13.9 billion in the same period in 2022. The bank recorded N60.7 billion as fees and commission income last year, up 37.9 percent from N44 billion in 2023.
Fidelity Bank
Fidelity Bank’s e-banking revenue increased 28.5 percent last year to N3.6 billion from N2.8 billion.
The bank recorded N44.9 billion as fees and commission income last year, up 44.3 percent from N31.1 billion in 2022.
Sterling Bank
Sterling Bank recorded an 18 percent growth in its e-banking revenue to N8.5 billion from N7.2 billion in 2022.
The bank recorded N26.3 billion in fees and commission income last year, which was up 17.9 percent from N22.3 billion.
Wema Bank
Wema Bank recorded a 21.3 percent growth in its e-banking revenue to N7.4 billion in 2023 from N6.1 billion.
The bank recorded N25.1 billion in fees and commission income last year, which was up 52.1 percent from N16.5 billion in 2022.
Jaiz Bank
Jaiz Bank’s e-banking revenue rose 287 percent to N938 million from N242 million.
The holding company recorded N2.34 billion in fees and commission income last year, up 42.6 percent from N1.64 billion.
