Interswitch says more banks are ready for tap-to-pay, but consumers need convincing
Interswitch says consumer education is the biggest hurdle to making tap-to-pay a mainstream payment method in Nigeria.
Interswitch, a Nigerian payments technology company, has highlighted education as the main obstacle in transforming tap-to-pay into a mainstream payment method in Nigeria, despite banks and merchants preparing to support the technology. Speaking at Moonshot 2026 in Lagos, Interswitch's divisional head of brands, communication, content, and CSR, Tomi Ogunlesi, emphasized that the industry needs to convince consumers of the security and convenience of tapping their cards or phones to pay.
Banks, Ogunlesi stated, are ready for the shift, but significant work remains on both the merchant and consumer sides, with the latter being the primary focus. This perspective comes after Mastercard and Interswitch launched Google Pay in Nigeria, enabling Mastercard holders to add their cards to Google Wallet and pay with NFC-enabled Android phones at contactless-enabled terminals.
Interswitch is collaborating with five Nigerian banks, including GTBank, Wema Bank, ProvidusUnity Bank, Zenith Bank, and FirstBank, to expand tokenized tap-to-pay transactions and is also working to onboard more merchants, such as supermarket chain Spar. Although Nigeria had attempted contactless payments in the past, infrastructure gaps and limited consumer awareness have hindered its widespread adoption.
Interswitch is now focused on persuading consumers to use the technology, explaining how tokenisation protects payment details by replacing card numbers with one-time tokens. Interswitch plans to support sensitization efforts with a 15-minute documentary titled 'Are You Tapping?', which delves into the evolution of payments in Nigeria and explains the importance of tokenisation.
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