Interswitch says more banks are ready for tap-to-pay, but consumers need convincing

Interswitch, a Nigerian payments innovation business, states customer education is the most significant difficulty to making tap-to-pay a traditional payment approach in Nigeria, even as banks and merchants prepare to support it. Speaking at Moonshot 2026 in Lagos on Thursday, Tomi Ogunlesi, divisional head of brand names, interaction, material and CSR at Interswitch, stated the market should persuade customers that tapping their cards or phones to pay is protected and hassle-free.

“The banks are all set,” Ogunlesi stated. “Where more of the work requires to be done now, from our viewpoint as a market, is on the merchant side and on the customer side, however many on the customer side.”

His remarks followed Mastercard and Interswitch revealed the launch of Google Pay in Nigeria, enabling qualified Mastercard holders to include their cards to Google Wallet and pay with suitable Android phones at contactless-enabled terminals. Interswitch’ stated that it was dealing with 5 Nigerian banks, consisting of GTBank, Wema Bank, ProvidusUnity Bank, Zenith Bank, and FirstBank, to broaden tokenised tap-to-pay deals. The business stated it is likewise working to bring more merchants into the network, consisting of grocery store chain, Spar, had actually revealed interest.

Contactless payments are not brand-new to Nigeria. In 2015, Unified Payments introduced PayAttitudean NFC-based payment service, with a number of Nigerian banks. It utilized a chip-enabled tag connected to a cellphone or another surface area to pay at suitable terminals.

A years later on, Access Bank partnered with Visa in March 2025 to release Tap to Phone, which turns an NFC-enabled Android smart device into a payment terminal for merchants accepting contactless card payments. In October, CashAfrica, a Nigerian contactless payments facilities start-up, likewise partnered with Chicken Republic to bring mobile tap-to-pay to more than 350 outlets.

In spite of these efforts, tap-to-pay has yet to end up being a traditional payment approach in Nigeria. Facilities spaces and restricted customer awareness have actually made it hard for contactless payments to get prevalent adoption. Interswitch has actually now used up the difficulty to encourage customers to utilize the innovation.

Ogunlesi stated Interswitch had actually expected the shift towards tokenised payments by making the majority of the cards it provided over the previous 2 to 3 years suitable with the innovation. He acknowledged that the simpleness of tap-to-pay might itself make some Nigerians suspicious. Ogunlesi stated customer education need to describe how tokenisation safeguards payment information.

“At its core, tokenisation indicates your card information have actually gone through a procedure where the token that is changing your card number in a tap-to-pay deal is not your card number,” he stated. “It’s more like a one-time token that is being utilized to mask your card number.”

Interswitch prepares to support sensitisation efforts with a 15-minute documentary entitled’Are You Tapping?,which checks out the development of payments in Nigeria and discusses why tokenisation matters.

In a different discussion at Moonshot, Ogunlesi stated Nigeria accepted card payments earlier than some other African markets, where mobile cash services assisted drive the development of digital payments. He indicated Interswitch’s experience in 2009, when the Central Bank of Nigeria purchased the shutdown of magnetic-stripe cards in the middle of scams issues. It required the market to shift towards EMV chip cards, developing a chance for Verve, Interswitch’s domestic card plan.

He likewise argued that cards keep a benefit in locations such as worldwide commerce and disagreement resolution, where recognized card networks have actually established procedures for dealing with stopped working deals and recuperating funds. Bank transfers might work well for domestic payments, however dealing with conflicts including cross-border deals can be more complex. He anticipates the physical type of cards to alter as payments end up being digital, however thinks the underlying facilities will stay essential.

“Cards are what everyone is attempting to interrupt,” he stated. “But the intriguing thing is that even the important things that are going to interfere with cards keep up the DNA of cards.”

Ogunlesi determined card rails, non-card rails such as immediate bank transfers, and digital-asset rails as 3 broad locations of payment facilities that might support much faster or less expensive cross-border transfers. He stated Interswitch was checking out how digital-asset facilities might be established in manner ins which are relied on and suitable with regulative requirements. The business’s instant top priority is getting more Nigerians comfy with tapping to pay.