48 institutions join new payments infrastructure as NIBSS pushes industry towards replacement of legacy NIP rail.
Nigeria’s payments landscape is entering a new phase as banks and fintechs accelerate their migration to the National Payment Stack, with the new infrastructure already recording substantial activity barely into its commercial operations.
The platform, developed by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), has processed 26.55 million transactions worth N1.4tn across 48 participating institutions, highlighting growing industry acceptance of the country’s new sovereign digital payments infrastructure.
The early performance comes as Nigeria seeks to build a more sophisticated payments ecosystem capable of handling not only transaction processing but also the intelligence, data and security requirements of a rapidly expanding digital economy.
The National Payment Stack is designed as a multi-currency architecture that brings transaction processing and payment intelligence together while consolidating payments, identity and data on a single rail. The infrastructure is expected to eventually succeed the legacy NIBSS Instant Payment system.
First Bank leads volume, Fidelity tops value
Commercial banks and fintechs are already accounting for a significant proportion of activity on the new network.
First Bank of Nigeria currently leads participating institutions in transaction volume processed through the platform, while Fidelity Bank ranks first in terms of the overall value of transactions.
Other major institutions contributing to the network’s early growth include Guaranty Trust Bank, Sterling Bank, Access Bank and Moniepoint.
The participation of major financial institutions is expected to increase as more operators complete the technical and operational requirements for integration into the new infrastructure.
ISO 20022 to deepen payment intelligence
One of the major technological features of the National Payment Stack is its structured ISO 20022 data architecture, which allows transactions to carry richer and more detailed information.
The architecture is designed to support automated corporate reconciliation, improve merchant collections and facilitate request-to-pay invoicing. It also enables both individual transfers and high-volume corporate disbursements to be processed through the same payment rail.
Beyond speed and interoperability, the infrastructure incorporates several security mechanisms intended to strengthen the protection of transactions across the network.
These include automated sanctions screening, account validation, end-to-end encryption and in-flight risk scoring, which is designed to identify potentially fraudulent transactions before they are executed.
The combination of richer transaction data and embedded security is expected to give financial institutions greater visibility into payment activity while improving their ability to detect and manage risks.
NIBSS: New rail will transform payments
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NIBSS, Premier Oiwoh, described the National Payment Stack as a major step in the evolution of Nigeria’s financial infrastructure.
He said, “The National Payment Stack represents an economic catalyst moving our financial infrastructure from basic transaction processing to comprehensive payment intelligence.
“By delivering an ISO 20022-compliant, multi-currency rail, we are laying the groundwork for unprecedented interoperability, heightened security, and seamless regional trade.”
Oiwoh’s comments underline the broader ambition behind the project, which goes beyond providing another channel for transferring money to creating an infrastructure capable of supporting more intelligent and interconnected financial services.
NIBSS urges full integration
Despite the strong early transaction figures, NIBSS has indicated that the effectiveness of the new infrastructure will depend on comprehensive participation across the financial services industry.
The payments switch has urged all financial institutions to activate the relevant debit and credit processing rails as part of efforts to achieve full ecosystem readiness and prevent congestion on the platform.
The call comes as transaction volumes are expected to rise with the onboarding of additional participants and the migration of more payment activities to the new infrastructure.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has also backed the transition, with the Director of Payments System Supervision, Dr Rakiya Yusuf, reaffirming the apex bank’s support for mandatory integration by financial services institutions.
Her position reinforces the regulatory direction of the payments industry as operators prepare for the eventual decommissioning of the 15-year-old NIP rail.
The transition to the National Payment Stack therefore represents more than a change in payment technology. It marks a broader attempt to reposition Nigeria’s financial infrastructure around richer data, stronger security, interoperability and the capacity to support increasingly complex domestic and regional transactions.