CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi
Apparently bowing to public outcry, the
Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday announced the cancellation of the
N100 monthly Automatic Teller Machine card maintenance fee introduced by
some banks recently
The CBN in a circular titled, ‘Revised
guide to bank charges,’ posted on its website, however, pegged the
maintenance fee at N100 annually.
It also pegged the mandatory cost of
Short Message Service alert at N4 subject to the Nigerian Communication
Commission directives.
The circular, which takes effect from
April 1, read, “In order to reflect current developments in the market
and provide clarity on banking terms, the CBN recently conducted a
review of the guide in consultation with all the banks and discount
houses, Bankers’ Committee, financial experts and also considered inputs
received from other stakeholders to produce the revised guide to bank
charges.”
On electronic transfer, the bank said N70
would be charged on transactions below N500,000, while N100 should be
charged on transactions between N500,000 and N1m. Transactions above N1m
will attract a charge of N500.
It said issuing fee of a debit card
should not be more than N1,000, while international withdrawals per
transaction on debit cards should be charged at N240 rather than N1,000
being currently charged by virtually all the banks.
The CBN pegged the interest on savings deposit accounts at a minimum of 30 per cent of the Monetary Policy Rate per annum.
The Bankers’ Committee, had during a meeting in November 2012, scrapped the N100 interbank charge on the use of ATM cards.
The Governor, CBN, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, had
said customers would no longer pay N100 on ATM withdrawals whenever
they use banks other than theirs from December 17, 2012.
Following the scrapping of the N100
withdrawal charges on ATM by the Bankers’ Committee, some banks had
recently introduced the N100 monthly maintenance fee on ATM cards.
The development had drawn the ire of bank
customers, who complained bitterly that the banks were exploiting them
and indirectly taking back the suspended third-party ATM card withdrawal
fee.
Also, some banks charge as high as N50
for SMS to alert their customers of transactions on their accounts, far
above the N4 that all Global System of Mobile communication providers
charge for each text message.
Other arbitrary charges include N500
monthly maintenance fee for every current account, depending on the
bank; and N5 inter-state commission for every N1,000 transferred into or
withdrawn from savings accounts in a state different from where the
savings account is opened or domiciled.
Consequently, customers have cried out against the fresh charges introduced by the banks.
The customers, who had envisaged low cost
of running accounts following the various cost-cutting measures carried
out by the banks and reforms introduced by the CBN, complained about
fresh and arbitrary charges they were being made to pay by their banks.
A customer, who simply identified himself
as Tunde, had earlier this week complained to our correspondent that
his bank was deducting all sorts of charges from his account without
notice.
“Guaranty Trust Bank Plc deducted N1,000
from my account for ATM card renewal. I never had a card and they
deducted money even without me applying for a card. Are they not
supposed to provide an ATM card for me on request?” he queried.
A businessman, Mr. Chike Korie, also
said, “The deductions I get on SMS alert in a month sometimes run into
thousands of naira. I’m a businessman and I get alerts on my accounts on
a daily basis. They charge me N50, which I consider too much because
the banks use bulk SMS, which should be cheaper.”
A salary earner, who simply introduced
himself as Oni, said some of the bank charges contradicted the cash-less
policy of the CBN.
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