Stakeholders in e-commerce have called for broader adoption of SoftPOS; a payment system that enables financial transactions without physical machines.

They stated that it had the potential to solve financial transfer issues.

Stakeholders, including bankers, fintech companies and e-commerce platforms made the call at a gathering recently, tagged ‘ Accelerating Contactless Adoption: A Collaboration Approach to Overcoming Adoption Barriers’, held in Lagos.

The convener of the event and Chief Executive Officer of NetPlusDotCom, Wole Faroun, said SoftPOS had made significant progress in enhancing payment accessibility and convenience but had yet to achieve scale.

Regarded by stakeholders as a financial innovation, SoftPOS is powered by Near Field Technology, which allows for payment to be made among users without having to make physical contact.

Faroun said, “SoftPOS technology transforms smartphones into payment terminals, eliminating the need for traditional Point of Sale hardware.”

The NetPlusDotCom CEO added that his organisation had been at the forefront of the NFC innovation in Nigeria, leading it to partner with major commercial banks, including Providus, Zenith, FCMB, Wema Bank and First Bank.

Participants at the event stated that the challenges to contactless adoption for businesses and personal finances stemmed from a lack of education on the technology, poverty and the unavailability of internet services in some parts of the country, among others.

The Group Head of e-business at Providus Bank, Kayode Sangoleye, highlighted the work done by the bank on the development of Providus SoftPOS, launched in 2023 in partnership with Mastercard.

He added that the drive for a SoftPOS was a need to find a service with a more profitable business model than the physical POS machine, which banks give out to merchants for free despite purchasing them for $100 apiece.

The Divisional Head of Payment and Solutions, FCMB, Frank Atat, noted that most Nigerians do not own smartphones that are NFC-enabled because of how expensive the devices are.

The stakeholders agreed on the need to collaborate and work towards a more profitable business model for SoftPOS for commercial banks and digital financial services providers.