Nigerians might soon start to abandon their ATM cards of competing banks such as Guaranty Trust bank, Zenith bank, First bank etc. as Heritage bank has signed a deal with Verve International to begin “card less” payment for transactions.
The installation of the “Paycode system” is expected to be distributed across Nigeria at Heritage Bank Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and Point-of-sale (POS) merchants.
With the Paycode system, Nigerians need not carry their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards about to withdraw and pay for goods and services .Basically, customers would be able to use their smart phones to pay for what they want and withdraw cash from ATMs.
Most Nigerians are always with their phones, so this new tech is a tech of convenience as people often forget their ATM cards at home or cannot use them due to its expiration.
Some problems associated with the usage of ATM cards
- Some Nigerians cannot afford to pay the replacement cost when their ATM cards expires
- The bureaucracy involved in getting a new ATM card is tedious especially getting police reports and long queues at banks
- Some banks usually have network issues when you want to request for an ATM card
- The ridiculous card maintenance fee deducted from customers’ account balances
“Through Verve customers can create a ‘unique Paycode’ via USSD, internet banking or Apps from local bank accounts. You will then receive a Paycode as a text before withdrawing any cash. “We’re all familiar with queues at ATMs and the low ATM per capita coverage in Nigeria, leaving many Nigerians without convenient ways to access funds.” said Verve International CEO Charles Ifedi.