Bank / Credit Union
Nigerian Senate to investigate excessive charges to customers
October 8, 2020
Following numerous complaints by Nigerians that they were constantly being overcharged bank fees, the Nigerian Senate has launched an investigation and formally requested that the Central Bank of Nigeria monitor all banks' compliance with the 2019 CBN Guide to Charges according to a Technext report.
Minister of the Interior Sen. Patrick Moro presented the issue at a plenary earlier this week and highlighted that Nigerian banks are taking extra deductions on ATM withdrawals, electronic transfers and debit/credit charges.
"Nigerian banks in a bid to further extort customers have set most of their ATM machines to dispense cash below the maximum sum of N40,000 (US $104) that ATMs are programmed to dispense per transaction," Moro told the news outlet.
This charge forces customers to withdraw smaller amounts per transaction and incur an added cost of N65 (US $0.17) after making a third transaction via other banks' ATMs.
However, according to the CBN's Guide to Charges, which was implemented in Jan. 2020, banks are mandated to charge a maximum of N35 (US $0.09) after the third withdrawal within the same month by a customer using another bank's ATM. Customers actually were charged an additional N30 for every ATM transaction carried out after the third one in the same month.
In addition, customers complained that if an ATM card became stuck in the machine the bank charged them a N1000 (US $2.60) ATM renewal fee every time it occurred as well as additional fees for electronic transfers and monthly debit/credit maintenance fees instead of quarterly fees.
The CBN guide also stated that any breach of the set charges carries a penalty of N2,000,000 (US $5182) per infraction. Any banks which failed to comply with the directive will be fined N2million daily until the directive is complied with.
