Banks revenue rise by 38.9% amid CBN’s cashless policy

The total revenue from electronic banking of 10 listed banks increased by 38.9 per cent in 2023 on the back of the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) cashless drive.

The bank’s latest financial statement disclosed that the total revenue rose from N427 billion to N309 billion in 2022.

The banks are Access Holdings Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, FBN Holdings Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, FCMB Group Plc, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc, and Wema Bank Plc.

Tesleemah Lateef, a bank analyst at Cordros Securities Limited, reacting to the report, stated that people are doing more transactions online rather than using cash.

She said: “The rise in electronic banking income is a factor in the volume that banks have transacted with during the first half of 2023.”

She continued that online transactions has increased because the cashless policy in the first quarter of 2023 has led to more people doing more transactions online.

“If charges remain the same and volume of transaction increases, then banks will rake in more money from electronic banking,” Tesleemah said.

UBA recorded the highest electronic banking revenue of N125.5 billion, followed by Access Holdings with N101.6 billion. FBN Holdings, Zenith Bank, and GTCO had N66 billion, N51.8 billion and N40.8 billion respectively.

The Central Bank of Nigeria began the cashless policy journey in Nigeria’s banking sector in 2012.

BEB