Yemisi Izuora
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) Plc, has commenced the rollout of the National Payment Stack (NPS), a sovereign, ISO 20022 compliant digital infrastructure designed to succeed legacy NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) system and modernize Nigeria’s financial ecosystem.
Unifying payments, identity, and data onto a single intelligent rail, the multi-currency architecture bridges transaction processing and payment intelligence while establishing robust cross-border capabilities.
Initial operational metrics highlight rapid commercial adoption, with the NPS platform
already recording 26.55 million transactions valued at ₦1.4 trillion across 48 participating institutions. First Bank of Nigeria leads the industry in total transaction volume, while Fidelity Bank holds the lead in overall transaction value. Other key early adopters driving network scale also include Guaranty Trust Bank, Sterling Bank, Access Bank and Moniepoint.
The platform introduces key operational and structural advances across the financial
sector:• ISO 20022 Data Architecture: Enables structured, metadata-rich transactions that automate corporate reconciliation, streamline merchant collections, and power request-to-pay invoicing.
• Unified Payment Rails: Consolidates single transfers and high-volume corporate
disbursements onto one platform, supporting direct debits, asynchronous
processing, and deferred settlement options.
• Embedded Security & Compliance: Integrates automated sanction screening,
account validation, end-to-end encryption, and in-flight risk scoring to detect
fraud prior to execution.
• Treasury Precision: Delivers real-time net position visibility and continuous
settlement accounting to optimize liquidity management for participating lenders.
“The National Payment Stack represents is an economic catalyst moving our financial infrastructure from basic transaction processing to comprehensive payment intelligence.
By delivering an ISO 20022-compliant, multi-currency rail, we are laying the groundwork for unprecedented interoperability, heightened security, and seamless regional trade,” stated Premier Oiwoh, Managing Director and CEO of NIBSS.
He further emphasized that complete ecosystem readiness relies heavily on full
participant alignment across technical and operational fronts: “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. NIBSS remains committed to providing continuous technical support, detailed guidelines, and integration assistance to help institutions achieve full compliance with KYC validation standards and optimize API consumption.
This proactive engagement will prevent platform congestion, enforce proper usage standards, and safeguard system performance as we work together with all institutions to complete integration for Funds Transfer Debit and advanced messaging capabilities. Ultimately, our shared objective is to achieve a seamless, full industry cut-over to the National Payment Stack as we prepare to decommission our 15-year-old legacy NIP rail.”
Reinforcing this call to action, Dr. (Mrs.) Rakiya Opemi Yusuf, Director of the Payments System Supervision Department at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), urged financial institutions nationwide to accelerate their NPS integration during a recent working visit to NIBSS Headquarters. Her statement reaffirms the apex bank’s mandatory and full regulatory support for the ISO 20022 standard in Nigeria’s payment system.