Payment system hits N$1 trillion worth of transactions

THE Namibia Interbank Settlement System (Niss) has recorded transactions worth N$1 trillion during 2021.

The share of single transactions settled in the Niss amounted to N$726,4 billion, which translates to 69% of the total value settled.

Meanwhile, retail payment transactions cleared through Namclear were N$323,9 billion, representing 31% of the aggregate value settled.

The Bank of Namibia (BoN) says the milestone shows that the country has a secure, reliable and modern payment system.

BoN says the settlement system has been able to deliver real time payments for all Namibian transactions across all banking platforms.

The Niss is a Real-Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) that processes and settles time-critical payments.

BoN acting communications’ director Kazembire Zemburuka says the 2021 value is as a result of the high volumes of the new domestic EFT system streams (NamPay), the utilisation of the lending facilities, specifically the seven-day repo facility of the bank, the purchase/resale of government securities; and the inflows of funds to comply with Namfisa’s regulation 28.

“Although the single item large value transactions contributed the most to the milestone settlement value, it is worth noting that the retail transactions also contributed significantly, from a payment stream perspective,” Zemburuka said in a statement yesterday.

In particular, the EFT stream contributed 94,13% of the total retail payment value settled.

Of the total retail payment transaction value, the enhanced credits which are part of NamPay, contributed 52,37% of the total retail payments settled, while the same-day payment stream contributed 36,43%.