By Peace Udugba
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Plc has commenced the rollout of the National Payment Stack (NPS), a sovereign, ISO 20022-compliant digital payment infrastructure designed to replace the legacy NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) system.
The new platform has already recorded 26.55 million transactions valued at ₦1.4 trillion across 48 participating financial institutions, signalling rapid adoption of the new payment infrastructure.
First Bank of Nigeria currently leads in transaction volume, while Fidelity Bank ranks highest in transaction value. Other major early adopters include Guaranty Trust Bank, Sterling Bank, Access Bank and Moniepoint.
NIBSS said the NPS is designed to modernise Nigeria’s financial ecosystem by bringing payments, identity and data onto a single intelligent rail, while providing a multi-currency architecture capable of supporting cross-border transactions.
The platform introduces several major improvements to Nigeria’s payment ecosystem, including:
ISO 20022 data architecture:
Enables structured, metadata-rich transactions to improve corporate reconciliation, merchant collections and request-to-pay invoicing.
Unified payment rails: Brings single transfers and high-volume corporate disbursements onto one platform while supporting direct debits, asynchronous processing and deferred settlement.
Embedded security and compliance:
Integrates automated sanctions screening, account validation, end-to-end encryption and real-time risk scoring to help detect fraudulent transactions before execution.
Enhanced treasury management: Provides real-time visibility of net positions and continuous settlement accounting to improve liquidity management for participating financial institutions.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NIBSS, Premier Oiwoh, described the NPS as a major step in transforming Nigeria’s financial infrastructure.
“The National Payment Stack represents an economic catalyst moving our financial infrastructure from basic transaction processing to comprehensive payment intelligence,” Oiwoh said.
He added that the ISO 20022-compliant, multi-currency platform would provide greater interoperability, improved security and stronger support for regional trade.
Oiwoh also called on participating financial institutions to accelerate the activation of all required messaging and fund-transfer credit and debit processing rails to ensure seamless transactions for customers.
According to him, full ecosystem readiness will depend on financial institutions aligning their technical and operational systems with the requirements of the new platform.
He said NIBSS would continue to provide technical support, integration guidelines and assistance to help institutions meet KYC validation requirements and optimise API usage.
The NIBSS CEO said the coordinated integration effort would help prevent platform congestion, enforce proper usage standards and protect system performance as the industry moves towards full adoption of the NPS.
He noted that the ultimate objective is to achieve a seamless industry-wide transition to the National Payment Stack ahead of the planned decommissioning of the 15-year-old legacy NIP rail.
Also speaking during a recent working visit to NIBSS headquarters, the Director of the Payments System Supervision Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. (Mrs.) Rakiya Opemi Yusuf, urged financial institutions to accelerate their integration with the NPS.
Her position reinforces the CBN’s regulatory support for the adoption of the ISO 20022 standard across Nigeria’s payment system.
About NIBSS
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) was incorporated in 1993 and is owned by licensed banks, including the Central Bank of Nigeria. It commenced operations in June 1994.
NIBSS provides infrastructure for inter-bank payments and settlement, helping to reduce bottlenecks associated with funds transfers between financial institutions.
The organisation operates technology infrastructure designed to support automated online transactions, secure information and data transmission, and efficient payment and settlement services across Nigeria’s financial system.
