CASHLESS POLICY CONUNDRUM: EXAMINING CUSTOMERS' SATISFACTION OF DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS' SERVICES IN SELECTED SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMEs) IN LAGOS STATE

Nigeria's cashless policy, introduced in 2012 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), aimed to promote a more efficient and secure financial system by encouraging the use of electronic payments. While the policy has achieved some successes, such as reducing the amount of cash in circulation and increasing the use of electronic payments, it has also presented challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Objectives: The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of cashless policy on SME customers’ satisfaction in selected (5) five deposit money banks in Lagos State. Methods: This study adopted a cross-sectional survey research design. Inferential statistics was used to examine the relationship between the variables under investigation. Results: The result shows that Cashless policy practices have positive and moderately average relationship with SMEs’ customer satisfaction of deposit money banks in Lagos State (R = 0.68, p=0.000) Conclusion: This study assert and accepts that Cashless policy practices (Debit and credit cards, online bank transfers) do significantly affect SMEs’ customer satisfaction of deposit money banks in Lagos State. Recommendations: Banks should address the issue of customer education by embarking on rigorous campaigns to educate customers on how to use various payments platforms; Banks should invest in digital infrastructure that can handle increased digital transactions real- time that are user friendly, secure and reliable