The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Plc has begun rolling out the National Payment Stack (NPS), a sovereign digital payments infrastructure designed to replace the legacy NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) system and modernise Nigeria’s financial ecosystem.
The new platform, which is compliant with the ISO 20022 messaging standard, is designed to bring payments, identity and data services together on a single digital rail while supporting multi-currency transactions and strengthening cross-border payment capabilities.
NIBSS said the platform had recorded 26.55 million transactions valued at N1.4 trillion across 48 participating institutions since the start of its rollout.
First Bank of Nigeria currently leads participating institutions in transaction volume, while Fidelity Bank ranks highest in total transaction value. Other early adopters include Guaranty Trust Bank, Sterling Bank, Access Bank and Moniepoint.
According to NIBSS, the NPS introduces a number of changes aimed at improving the efficiency, security and intelligence of payment processing across the financial sector.
The platform’s adoption of the ISO 20022 data architecture will allow transactions to carry more structured information, which NIBSS said could improve corporate reconciliation, merchant collections and request-to-pay invoicing.
The NPS will also consolidate single transfers and high-volume corporate disbursements on a unified rail, while supporting direct debits, asynchronous processing and deferred settlement.
Security features built into the platform include automated sanctions screening, account validation, end-to-end encryption and real-time risk scoring intended to identify potentially fraudulent transactions before execution.
NIBSS said the system would also provide participating financial institutions with real-time visibility of their net positions and continuous settlement accounting to support more effective liquidity management.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NIBSS, Premier Oiwoh, described the NPS as a major development in 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 strengthen interoperability, improve security and support regional trade.
Oiwoh, however, stressed that the success of the transition would depend on financial institutions completing the required technical and operational integration.
He urged participating institutions to activate all relevant messaging and fund-transfer credit and debit processing rails, while complying with Know Your Customer (KYC) validation requirements and optimising their use of the platform’s application programming interfaces.
NIBSS said it would continue to provide technical support, integration guidance and other assistance to financial institutions during the transition.
The company said full integration would help prevent platform congestion, ensure compliance with usage standards and maintain system performance as the industry moves towards the eventual replacement of the existing NIP infrastructure.
The Director of the Payments System Supervision Department at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr Rakiya Opemi Yusuf, also urged financial institutions to accelerate their integration with the NPS during a recent working visit to NIBSS headquarters.
Her call reinforces the CBN’s support for the adoption of the ISO 20022 standard across Nigeria’s payments system.
NIBSS said the transition would ultimately lead to a full industry-wide migration to the NPS and the eventual decommissioning of the 15-year-old NIP rail.
Established in 1993 and operational since June 1994, NIBSS is owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria and all licensed banks in the country.
The company operates infrastructure for inter-bank payments, funds transfer and settlement, with systems designed to improve the efficiency of financial transactions and mitigate operational and credit risks across participating institutions.
