The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Plc has begun the industry-wide transition to its new National Payment Stack (NPS), with 48 financial institutions already processing 26.55 million transactions worth N1.4 trillion as the payments infrastructure operator prepares to retire its 15-year-old NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) platform.
The rollout marks a notable development in Nigeria’s payments architecture, with NIBSS positioning the NPS as a sovereign, ISO 20022-compliant infrastructure that will combine payments, identity and data on a single digital rail.
The early transaction volumes indicate that adoption is already gathering pace, although NIBSS is pushing banks and other participating institutions to accelerate technical integration before the legacy NIP system is eventually decommissioned.
Premier Oiwoh, managing director and chief executive officer of NIBSS, described the new infrastructure as an economic catalyst that would move Nigeria’s payment system beyond transaction processing towards richer payment intelligence.
“The National Payment Stack represents an economic catalyst moving our financial infrastructure from basic transaction processing to comprehensive payment intelligence,” Oiwoh said.
He said the ISO 20022-compliant and multi-currency architecture would provide the foundation for greater interoperability, improved security and smoother regional trade.
FirstBank leads transaction volumes
Early adoption data show significant differences in how participating institutions are using the new platform.
First Bank of Nigeria recorded the highest transaction volume among participants, while Fidelity Bank led in total transaction value.
Guaranty Trust Bank, Sterling Bank, Access Bank and Moniepoint are also among the institutions contributing to the expansion of the NPS network.
The early performance provides an indication of the scale of activity the new infrastructure will eventually be required to support once the full banking and payments ecosystem migrates from NIP.
Unlike the legacy system, the NPS is designed around the ISO 20022 messaging standard, allowing financial transactions to carry more structured and detailed information.
Despite the progress recorded so far, NIBSS is urging participating financial institutions to complete their technical and operational integration.
Oiwoh said institutions must activate the relevant messaging and fund-transfer rails to ensure customers experience seamless transactions as adoption expands.
“To guarantee an optimal transaction experience for end-users, it is imperative that all participating financial services institutions immediately activate all related messages and fund transfer credit and debit processing rails,” he said.
NIBSS noted that it would continue providing technical guidance, integration support and implementation assistance to financial institutions as they work towards full compliance with Know Your Customer validation requirements and optimise their application programming interface consumption.
The push is partly aimed at preventing operational bottlenecks as transaction volumes increase.
NIBSS said institutions must properly configure the Funds Transfer Debit and advanced messaging capabilities to prevent platform congestion and maintain system performance during the transition.
New architecture targets corporate payments
The NPS is being built not simply as a replacement for NIP but as a broader payments infrastructure capable of supporting more sophisticated financial transactions.
Its ISO 20022 architecture enables transactions to carry richer metadata, potentially allowing banks and businesses to automate processes that currently require manual intervention.
NIBSS said the system would support automated corporate reconciliation, merchant collections and request-to-pay invoicing.
It also brings single transfers and high-volume corporate disbursements onto a unified platform while supporting direct debits, asynchronous processing and deferred settlement.
The multi-currency architecture could further support the development of cross-border payment capabilities, an increasingly important requirement as Nigerian businesses engage more extensively in regional and international commerce.
CBN backs industry migration
The Central Bank of Nigeria is also pushing financial institutions to accelerate their transition.
During a working visit to NIBSS headquarters, Rakiya Opemi Yusuf, director of the CBN’s Payments System Supervision Department, urged financial institutions across the country to intensify integration into the NPS.
Her position reinforces the apex bank’s support for the adoption of ISO 20022 across Nigeria’s payments ecosystem.
15-year-old NIP faces retirement
The immediate objective for NIBSS is to achieve a full-industry cut-over before the eventual retirement of the existing NIP infrastructure, which has supported Nigeria’s instant-payment ecosystem for about 15 years.
The scale of the transition means that the success of the NPS will depend heavily on coordinated implementation across banks, fintechs and other participating financial institutions.
NIBSS expects institutions to complete the necessary technical and operational changes ahead of the decommissioning of NIP.
