News

What's making news in Nigeria

March 29, 2012

The Central Bank of Nigeria said POS terminals and ATMs in Nigeria will be enabled for biometric identification by 2013, a report at allafrica.com said.

CBN acting director of banking and payment systems Gaius Emokpae, the CBN Acting Director (Banking and Payment System Department), made the announcement on Wednesday in Lagos at a seminar sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. The theme of the seminar was "Electronic Banking and Payment Systems in a Cashless Economy."

Emokpae said that the new system would leverage a platform that the apex bank had been championing. He said that the biometric feature is part of the payments system envisioned in Nigeria Vision 2020 and will support the Evidence Act against incessant cases of fraud associated with electronic payment.

In other news, FirstBank Nigeria Plc has introduced a Visa debit card that can be linked to both Nigerian naira and U.S. dollar card accounts, an article at thenationonlineng.net. The chip and PIN card can be used to make payments at ATMs, POS terminals and websites.

FBN said in a statement that Europay, MasterCard and VISA EMV- chip and PIN cards have the highest security guarantee for customers’ transactions based on global best practices. The bank also said that the product is easy, convenient, offerst portable access to funds and is accepted at over 29 million locations and for cash withdrawals at over 1.8 million ATMs in over 200 countries worldwide.