The CREDIT card designed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for domestic use has been scheduled for deployment, it was learnt yesterday. The card is expected to compete with other debit cards, including Mastercard, Discovery and Visa cards.
Following its introduction, local banks and other financial institutions will be in a position to offer payment solutions like debit, credit, virtual, loyalty and tokenised cards, non-interest card, identity card.
Here are 5 major things to note about this development:
1) With the launch of this credit card, the CBN is set to become Africa’s first central bank to drive the domestic card scheme joining countries like India, Turkey, China, and Brazil.
2) The credit card which is locally produced is set to rival other giants like MasterCard, Visa, Discovery and other such cards as Nigeria aims to improve the country's data sovereignty and security.
3) The card will augment the CBN's effort to ensure seamless dissemination of government-to-person payments and other social impact initiatives thus supporting the growth of a robust digital economy.
4) There is currently no confirmation if the card can be enabled for international transactions as its application has been restricted to transactions within the country for now.
5) The new card scheme will also reduce the operating costs of cards in the country for both card issuers and customers. Charges accruing to the card are expected to be lower as it will be charged in the local currency - Naira, against other cards charged in foreign currency.
Stay tuned to Aza Forum for more finance news and development.
Based on reports by The Nation and Pulse NG.
