Nigeria’s Sterling Bank On Massive Expansion Of Cashless Infrastructure

January 12, 2015 Onyedimmakachukwu Business, Finance/Money, Retail & Manufacturing, Telecommunication

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VENTURES AFRICA – Nigerian lender, Sterling Bank says it has concluded arrangements to deploy additional 5,000 Point of Sales (POS) terminals to boost transactions. Shina Atilola, the bank’s Head of Strategy and Communications, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday that the POS machines, used by retail stores to accept ATM cards for payment of goods and services, would be deployed across the country to facilitate cashless transactions.
Sterling Bank is one the Nigerian banks with fewer cashless infrastructure like POS and Automated teller machines (ATM), but Atilola says that is changing. “We have almost doubled our ATM counts by September 2014,” he told the NAN. “We started last year with 300 ATMs, but aimed to close the new year with about 700. This will involve additional deployment of ATMs at existing locations and partner locations.’’ He added that a robust infrastructure is being put in place to support the expansion embarked on by the bank.
New POS machines in furtherance of  CBN’s cashless policy
With their ability to facilitate cashless transactions ranging from paying for goods and services to funds transfer, POS and ATM machines play a crucial role in the cashless policy
embarked on by Nigeria’s Central Bank. The apex bank has since 2012 sought to discourage transactions using physical cash to reduce the circulation of physical notes. But the density of ATMs and adaptation of POS still remains low across the country, thus limiting the success of the policy.  Sterling Bank says its infrastructural expansion is geared towards furthering the CBN’s drive: “We will continue to deploy more ATMs to promote the cashless policy of the CBN and ensure that our customers are provided enough platforms for their financial transactions,” Atilola said.