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Nigeria records 29.1% growth yearly in payments, securities transactions

By Bukky Olajide
11 May 2015   |   3:06 am
NIGERIA has recorded an average yearly growth of 29.1 per cent in payments and securities transaction traffic since 2013.
Business Growth- Image source damangmedia

Business Growth- Image source damangmedia

NIGERIA has recorded an average yearly growth of 29.1 per cent in payments and securities transaction traffic since 2013.

This was contained in a publication by SWIFT, – a financial messaging institution.

It noted that payments and securities transactions are growing faster in Africa than in any other part of the world.

Traffic volumes of payments information in Africa grew by 13.2 per cent, for the year 2013 compared to the same period in 2014, surpassing Asia Pacific at 12.6 per cent; the Americas at 12.1 per cent; and for the “EMEA” region which includes Europe, the Middle East and Africa at 6.9 per cent, or 8.8 per cent growth.

Traffic between African countries has also been rising, signifying good news for those who believe that Africa should focus on building competitive links and bringing securities markets together.

Other countries of stand-out growth in SWIFT traffic in different countries included Angola where payments traffic grew by 78 per cent, Ghana’s payments traffic rose by 30 per cent and securities by 55 per cent. Ghana has seen average growth of 27.2 per cent since 2013] Kenya [payment message traffic rose by 23.1 per cent, while securities-related growth was 122.3 per cent] Tanzania [payments rose by 32.9 per cent and securities by 45 per cent], Uganda [payments were up by 17.5 per cent and securities by 31.6 per cent.

According to the SWIFT’s head of Sub-Sahara Africa, Hugo Smit, Africa is an important market for SWIFT. “Once again it has outperformed most of our other regions and has proven itself a critical component of our global business. Because the continent has such huge growth potential, we are continuing to invest more resources to support the local financial community. It is very heartening to see such impressive growth in West and East Africa, where we are currently opening new SWIFT offices.

According to him, ‘’The growth has been sustained for several years. Africa’s total SWIFT traffic rose by 44 per cent over the last three years, of which payments rose 42 per cent and securities information was up 37 per cent across Africa”.

Deputy Chief Executive EMEA, SWIFT Christian Sarafidis, highlighted the value of SWIFT data in the about African economies: “The figures show strong organic growth across Africa and in East Africa particularly, and serve as validation of the positive growth trends we are witnessing in the region.

‘’African corridors are becoming stronger. For the full year 2014, SWIFT data shows that 52 per cent of the traffic sent from Africa stayed within the African zone, up by 16 per cent on the year before and the highest growth rate for intra-African traffic.

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