Mobile money agents with Point of Sale machines, known as PoS business in recent times, has been and is still on the rise in the country.
These days, you barely walk ten meters without finding at least one PoS agent. They are now situated at every nook and cranny.
It is no longer comparable in terms of figures as the number of PoS agents outnumber the Automated Teller Machines (ATM) in the country at the moment.
This could be attributed to some factors that one must consider before stepping out to carry out any transaction.
The unexpected arrival of Covid 19 has reshaped so many things in the country ranging from the business sector to the education sector.
Nigerians now have to follow protocols like using face masks, sanitizing the hands, and maintaining social distancing.
With all these, people now evade bank halls and queues at the ATM and turn to PoS agents for withdrawals, deposits, and transfers.
Taking a survey and interacting with different people in different works of life, you would see reasons why they prefer using a PoS vendor instead of going to the ATM or banking halls having put some considerations in mind.
A University student, who would need money to sort out some fees and items for school as fast as possible would turn to the nearest PoS vendor to get it done.
A shopper who during shopping, runs out of cash would look for the nearest PoS agent if an ATM is not in sight. A person could be stranded on the road and might not find a nearby bank.
In short, banks are not situated at every bus stop nor every junction especially in local areas so this absence of nearby banks leaves one with no choice but to use a close-by PoS vendor.
Adding to the advantages, the charge per transaction is affordable to customers, ranging from small sums to bigger sums.
For instance, in Ilorin, the charge per transaction is 20-30 Naira per Thousand which can be negotiated when withdrawing a large sum and everyone sees it as being very reasonable.
Report shows that Lagos accounted for about 70% of the total volume of PoS transactions in 2020.
This represents a 100% growth in the volume of PoS transactions in the state as the volume of PoS transactions rose from 226 million in 2019 to over 453 million at the end of 2020.
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This statistic shows how much Nigerians have turned to PoS agents to sort out their immediate banking needs to save themselves some time and stress and thereby indicates that withdrawals at ATM machines have reduced a whole lot.
If one has doubts about its credibility or has fears of experiencing illegal transactions, it’s safe to note that the banks try as much as possible to know who they are issuing the PoS machines to avoid fraudulent activities by asking to sign the ‘Know Your Customer form which encapsulates names, address, phone number(s) of the person seeking the machine.
In an interview with a money agent, who identified simply as Kemi and operates in Egbeda, Lagos, She stated that the service is rewarding, even though it has its downside, which has to do with the risk of getting robbed.
She stated that, “people patronize money agents because of the speed of service we offer the public. People sometimes do not want to walk the long distance of going to the ATM, so they find an agent who is close to where they are.
“My location is on Google map, so that makes me discoverable to people who need cash or want to make the transfer”.
When asked what her daily earnings is, she stated that she makes about 3,000 daily. She said more people are getting into the business so the profit might drop, however, the patronage is encouraging.
“People make cash deposits with me and also, I have other services I provide that allow me to receive cash without going into the bank or ATM to make bulk withdrawals all the time,” she added.
The location of the business is important to how much one can make daily, for those who have their business in busy locations like the market will do more transactions and earn more.
Out of twenty people we interviewed on which service they prefer, fifteen preferred PoS service, while five chose ATM.
According to Olumide Kasamu, a young man who responded to our reporter, he stated that, “while ATMs are sometimes safer and charge less, for those built around the vicinity of the bank. Walking all the way to the ATM can be stressful and the event that the machine is out of service just makes it worse, coupled with the long lines.
“But with PoS agents, the service is faster even though they charge a bit more, they are faster to deal with.”
PoS outlets are found in streets and marketplaces in almost every part of the country, offering financial services to the public.
The question is, will this service remain relevant when CBN launches the digital currency in October?
