NIGERIA’S NATIONAL PAYMENT STACK (NPS): USHERING IN A NEW ERA OF DIGITAL PAYMENTS.

On November 7, 2025, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) reported that Nigeria recorded its first successful transaction on the National Payment Stack (NPS), the country’s new real-time payment infrastructure powered by NIBSS.
This landmark event, executed by PalmPay and Wema Bank, marks a pivotal moment in Nigeria’s financial technology evolution; a symbolic and functional shift from the legacy NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) system to a more advanced, ISO 20022
compliant digital payment rail.
The launch of NPS aligns with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive for all payment service providers to migrate to the ISO 20022 messaging standard, reinforcing the country’s commitment to global payment interoperability and regulatory compliance.
NPS represents the next generation of national payment infrastructure: a unified, intelligent platform that enables instant, data-rich, secure, and interoperable payments across banks, fintechs, and other financial institutions. It brings Nigeria into alignment with ISO 20022, the global standard for electronic financial messaging.