Digital Banking: Access Holdings, GTCO, UBA Report N7.19trn USSD Transaction in 2022

Nume Ekeghe

Three big banks, Access Holdings plc, United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) and Guaranty Trust Holding Plc has announced N7.19 trillion Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) transactions in 2022.

The same figure was reported in 2021 financial year.

For GTCO, its USSD transactions dropped to N3.21trillion in 2022, a decline of 22 per cent, while UBA announced N1.56trillion USSD transactions in 2022 from N1.15trillion in 2021. 

Access Holdings reported N2.4trillion USSD transactions in 2022, an increase of 26.3 per cent from N1.92 trillion in 2021. 

For GTCO, it announced 972 million volume of USSD transactions in 2022, an increase of one per cent from 966.9 million in 2021.

The lender in a presentation to investors & analysts attributed the decline to the introduction of 2-factor authentication and the impact of N6.98 flat fee that weigh negatively on the volumes and values of transactions consummated using USSD.

The financial institution added that the two factors lead to behavioural change as customers switched to GTWorld to consummate their NIBSS Instant Payments (NIP) and other electronic-payments.

In the year under review, GTCO reported N32.8 trillion mobile banking transactions, an increase of 28 per cent from N25.6trillion in 2021 as volume of mobile banking transactions hits 490.6 million in 2022, a growth of 18 per cent from 414.1 million reported in 2021.

The Group in a statement said, “Increased adoption of electronic banking platforms with strong growth in both volume and value of Mobile Banking.

“28 per cent year-on-year growth in Mobile Banking value grew from N25.8 trillion in 2021 to N32.8 trillion in 2022 on the back of an 18 per cent increase in volume from N414.1 million to N490.6 million from new users on the platforms.”

The report added that transactions on internet banking dropped by six per cent to N2.62 trillion in 2022 from N2.78 trillion in 2021, as volume of internet banking significantly dropped to 8.8 million, 20 per cent below 11.1millin reported in 2021.

“The value of internet banking transactions declined but remained strong at N2.62 trillion, ”the Group explained.

Investigation revealed that the Group announced N23.2 billion income from electronic -banking transactions in 2022 from N21.08 billion in 2021, while commission on touch points dropped to N2.25 billion in 2022 from N2.48 billion reported in 2021.

The Group Chief Executive Officer, GTCO, Mr. Segun Agbaje, in a statement said, “Our ability to successfully navigate the peculiar challenges in the different markets where we operate underscores our strong business fundamentals and unwavering commitment to sound business strategies. “Despite the varying challenges and headwinds that weighed on growth in 2022, we were determined to deliver a decent performance and scale effectively to strengthen our competitive edge and drive long-term growth.”