This, the CBN Deputy Governor- Operations, Tunde Lemo said, was part of the execution of the Payment System Vision 2020 Strategy which sought to tackle limitations in the settlement system in Nigeria.
“It serves as the nucleus of the national payment system, as all payments finally settle in central bank money, through settlement accounts maintained for designated financial institutions,” said the deputy governor.
The RTGS is an interbank payment infrastructure that facilitates continuous settlement of electronic funds transfers on gross (individual), final and irrevocable basis.
He said: “Large-value payments are however settled individually as they arise, in real-time, irrevocably. This large-value settlement capability is particularly useful for interbank and government transactions.”
The Lemo maintained that SSSS would facilitate the electronic management of the entire life cycle of securities’ transactions as well as help manage the primary and secondary markets for securities and facilitate efficient open market operations.
“With the implementation of the RTGS and SSS, the Nigerian Payment System is positioned to progressively improve all retail payments schemes with a view to achieving the PSV2020 objectives and meeting world-class standards,” he noted.
The development is expected to stimulate rapid transformational developments in the financial markets allowing real-time settlements of transactions in the capital, commodity and foreign exchange markets.
Other benefits of these new systems include reduction and elimination of settlement and systemic risks in the payments system; provision of a collateral management platform to mitigate settlement risks and achievement of instant value for bank customers.
The move would also help to enhance a robust infrastructure to handle faster processing of electronic payments related to banking and financial market services as well as the expansion of the functionality and effectiveness of government securities.
Lemo said the new RTGS is built on the Swift messaging standards to allow for safer, easier and faster interconnectivity with other payment system infrastructures both locally and internationally.
