VeriFone Systems has received orders to date for around 80,000 units of its VX 520 payment solution, as a result of banks and merchants needs to meet the requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Cash-less Lagos initiative (view press release). The company claims that these orders represent more than half of the 150,00 total systems that CBN expects to be deployed by the end of the year to comply with its mandate. CBN hopes that by driving modernisation of the country’s payment system it will join the top 20 economies by 2020.

“VeriFone is providing industry-leading payment solutions to support CBN’s cashless initiative, which will benefit consumers and merchants in reducing cash-handling costs and spurring economic development,” said William Nettles, VeriFone vice president and general manager, Middle East and Africa. “CBN’s efforts to modernise the payment system to drive economic development sets a standard throughout Africa and VeriFone expects these efforts to lead to greater demand for payment solutions in countries including Kenya, Ghana and Ethiopia, among others.”