The Payment ecosystem improved significantly in 2016 on account of various strategic alliances that were established among banks, telecommunication and financial technology firms.
Digitization of the payments system landscape accelerated as a result of increased participation of financial technology firms which caused some concerns for improved cyber security, data protection, consumer protection and recourse mechanisms.
Growth in supply of digital payment products was driven mainly by mobile money on account of high mobile phone penetration. Payment cards issued also recorded high growth, driven mainly by debit cards. The number of credit card issuers and credit card holders also increased significantly.
These developments were supported by deployment of point of sale devices, enabling regulatory environment and customers’ desire for convenient and faster payments. The number of banks providing interbank instant retail payment service increased from nine (9) in 2015 to twenty two (22) by end-December 2016 in response to customer demand for faster retail payments.
