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Nigeria's cashless policy makes progress with deployment of 9,000 ATMs

May 10, 2012

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria said Wednesday that the country's cashless economic policy has seen some success since it went into a limited launch recently in the city of Lagos.

According to a report in the Nigerian Tribune, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said banks so far had deployed more than 9,000 ATMs in response to the cashless policy. Deployment was within and outside bank branches and the ATMs feature bill payment, funds transfer, virtual top up and other capabilities.

In a keynote speech at this week's Cash-Less Lagos Fair, Sanusi said the cashless policy was designed to promote solutions to the cost of cash and risks to Nigeria's financial system that come with a cash-driven economy.

"In fact, the direct cost of cash management is estimated to reach N192 billion by the end of 2012," the Tribune quoted Sanusi as saying. "It is in an attempt to reduce these challenges that the CBN, in collaboration with the Bankers' Committee, initiated the project "Cash-Less Nigeria" with the aim of encouraging Nigerians to adopt e-payment," he explained.

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