Drivers Adopt Digital Payment

Account security and convenience are tipped as the biggest attraction to e-payment. Many cardholders insist that rising cases of e-frauds and loss of funds by customers are biggest impediment to cashless banking initiatives. Assistant Business Editor COLLINS NWEZE writes that regulators, operators and non-bank institutions need to collaborate to give the e-payment customers the security that will boost confidence in the industry.

Lagos-based entrepreneur, Michael Okafor, was one of the first adopters of e-payment. For him, cash has little or no place in today’s world given the rising benefits of digital payment in the economy.

He said once a transaction is secured, and it is seamless, then such payment platform will gain the attention of more users.“People believe in convenience and security of their transactions. Once a bank or other e-payment facilitators miss the two services, then, the acceptance of whatever service they provide will decline,” he said.

Okafor held that view until he lost N1 million to e-fraudsters, who cloned his Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card and made away with his money.

He is one of the cardholders that, according to Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF), lost over N12.8 billion yearly to e-fraudsters.

Today, he calls for caution on the part of the customer and banks. He said customers should protect their data from third parties, while banks guard against insider abuses.

“I think the banks and customers have roles to play. Customers should protect their personal data while bank should fortify their systems and guard against insider abuses.

Internet banking, mobile banking, Point of Sale (PoS), Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), web payment, Nigeria Quick Response (NQR) code, among other e-payment channels, are  dominant modes of payment by a large part of the population.

These channels have equally exposed the banking system to enormous  risks from e-fraudsters.