Getting Nigerians to tap their phones or cards at checkout instead of making transfers or inserting physical cards is the next challenge facing the country’s digital payments industry. Interswitch Group is now working with five major banks to make that shift easier, expanding the infrastructure behind contactless payments across multiple platforms.
The payments company announced on October 26, 2026, that it is partnering with GTBank, Wema Bank, ProvidusUnity Bank, Zenith Bank and FirstBank to promote tokenised transactions through Google Pay, Apple Pay and participating banks’ mobile applications.
The initiative is designed to connect banks, merchants and payment networks, with the broader goal of making tap-to-pay a more familiar option for Nigerian consumers.
Five Banks Join Interswitch’s Tokenisation Initiative
The partnership brings together five financial institutions to expand access to tokenised payments and support the infrastructure required for digital wallet transactions.
Tokenisation replaces sensitive payment information, such as a card number, with a unique digital credential during a transaction. Rather than exposing the original card details, the system uses a substitute token associated with a particular device, merchant or transaction.
This can help reduce the risk of stolen payment information being reused, while supporting faster and more convenient checkout experiences.
Interswitch says the initiative is intended to deliver several benefits across the payments ecosystem, including improved transaction approval rates, reduced exposure to card fraud and greater customer confidence in digital payments.
How Interswitch Fits Into Google Pay and Apple Pay
The initiative involves different companies performing complementary roles.
Google and Apple provide the digital wallet platforms, while Mastercard supplies card-network and tokenisation technology. Interswitch helps connect participating banks to the payment infrastructure required to process these transactions.
Through its work with Mastercard, Interswitch has helped establish issuer connectivity, tokenisation and payment-processing capabilities that allow eligible bank cards to work with digital wallets.
In practical terms, this infrastructure enables participating banks to connect supported card products to mobile payment services. Customers can then add eligible cards to compatible wallets and use supported devices at contactless terminals or participating online merchants.
The company's role also extends to merchant engagement, as wider acceptance will depend on businesses having the equipment and payment integrations needed to process contactless transactions.
Interswitch Targets Merchants as Well as Banks
Expanding bank participation alone will not make tap-to-pay widely available. Customers also need places where they can use the technology.
Interswitch says it is engaging merchants to increase the number of businesses accepting contactless payments. Supermarket chain SPAR is among the businesses that have shown interest in the initiative.
Other efforts are also expanding the potential reach of contactless transactions. CashAfrica partnered with Chicken Republic in October 2026 to extend its contactless payment infrastructure to more than 350 outlets.
These merchant relationships could expose more consumers to phone-based payments through routine purchases. However, the number of participating outlets and how frequently customers use the service will determine the initiative's practical impact.
Nigeria Has Tried Tap-to-Pay Before
The latest partnership is not the country's first attempt to establish contactless payments.
In 2015, Unified Payments introduced PayAttitude, an NFC-based solution that allowed customers to make payments using compatible tags attached to mobile phones or other surfaces.
More recently, Access Bank partnered with Visa in 2025 to introduce Tap to Phone, allowing merchants to turn compatible Android smartphones into payment terminals. PalmPay also worked with CashAfrica to pilot contactless payments across 1,000 point-of-sale terminals.
Despite these efforts, contactless transactions have remained a small part of Nigeria's payment market. CashAfrica chief executive Malik Asamu has estimated that tap-to-pay accounts for approximately 0.1 per cent of payments in the country. This is an industry estimate, not an official Central Bank of Nigeria statistic.
The history suggests that making the technology available is only one part of the challenge. Banks must support eligible cards, consumers need compatible devices, and merchants must have payment terminals that can accept contactless transactions.
Consumer Awareness and Trust Remain Challenges
Interswitch has identified consumer education as a major priority in its push to expand tokenised payments.
Speaking at Moonshot 2026 in Lagos, Tomi Ogunlesi, the company's divisional head of brands, communication, content and CSR, said banks were increasingly prepared to support the technology, but merchants and consumers still needed convincing.
The company plans to release a 15-minute documentary titled Are You Tapping?, which will examine the evolution of payments in Nigeria and explain the role of tokenisation in securing digital transactions.
Akeem Lawal, managing director of payment switching and processing at Interswitch, said the initiative depends on cooperation across the financial services industry rather than the efforts of a single company.
He explained that tokenisation allows transactions to use substitute credentials instead of exposing customers' actual card details. According to Lawal, the technology is designed so that a stolen token cannot simply be used elsewhere or converted back into the original card information.
However, awareness campaigns may not be enough to change established payment habits. Bank transfers and physical cards are already familiar to many Nigerian consumers. Customers are more likely to adopt another payment method if it offers a dependable and noticeably easier experience.
Merchants Will Determine Whether Tap-to-Pay Becomes Routine
Businesses are central to the success of the initiative because contactless payments require compatible terminals or other supported payment equipment.
Some merchants may need to upgrade their existing point-of-sale devices or integrate additional payment capabilities. Those investments will depend partly on whether customers show enough demand to justify the expense.
Faster checkout could be useful in supermarkets, restaurants and other busy retail environments, where reducing the time spent processing payments may improve service. But merchants will also need reliable transactions and clear confirmation processes before making contactless payments a regular part of their operations.
This creates a cycle that the industry must overcome: customers are less likely to use tap-to-pay if few businesses accept it, while merchants may hesitate to invest in the technology if customers rarely request it.
Source: Interswitch