The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should check and regulate the multiplicity of exploitative service charges by Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) on their customers, a financial expert and former president of the Chattered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Okechukwu Unegbu, has said.
Unegbu, who spoke in Abuja, accused the banks of no longer empathizing with their customers, as was the case in the past.
“What we have now is a situation where the DMBs pile up so many unexplained charges on their customers without providing any service. Most of the bank officials know next to nothing about banking, while the heads of the banks are also complicit in the exploitation.
“The acting CBN governor, Folashodun Shonubi, should pay particular attention to understanding the DMBs and their customers, and take full charge of regulating their activities,” he advised.
Unegbu said that the mission of any bank should be to serve its customers without expecting any favours, pointing out that in the past, the only charges that banks imposed on their customers were the Commission on Turnover (COT) and interest payments on loans, which were strictly regulated by the CBN.
“In the past, banks could not charge above what the CBN stipulated. But these days, they are making more money cunningly. Most of them are there for the money they make.
“The CIBN has discussed this issue severally, that banks should serve their customers with conscience,” he said.
Of late, many bank customers have complained about the multiple, unexplained charges deducted from their bank accounts, which are not in compliance with specific bank charges approved by the CBN.
Some of the charges approved by the regulatory authority include N50 for the Electronic Funds Transfer for transactions done above N50,000; N25 for N5,000 – N50,000 and N10 charge for below N5,000.
The charge on Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) withdrawals from other banks’ ATMs is N35 for the third withdrawal within the same month.
Card Maintenance Fee for Naira Debit/Credit Cards linked to savings accounts attract a maximum of N50 quarterly maintenance fee, while foreign currency-denominated debit/credit cards attract 10 dollars.
The charge for a hardware token is subject to cost recovery to a maximum charge of N2,500.
The issuance fee for these cards approved by the CBN is N1,000 (one-off charge), irrespective of the card type, either regular or premium card, same as for a replacement or renewal.
“Intra-Scheme Money Transfer Sending to an account holder attracts a minimum of N50 subject to one per cent of transaction value or N300, whichever is lower.
“For a non-account holder, it attracts a minimum of N50 subject to 1.5 percent of transaction value or N500, whichever is lower.”
Other approved charges are Status Enquiry at the Request of the Customer, like Confirmation Letter, Embassy Letter, Reference Letter, and Letter of Indebtedness/Non-Indebtedness, which attract a rate of N500 per request.
The fee for Short Message Service (SMS) mandatory alert is based on cost recovery from the previous maximum charge of N4, while Bill payment via e-channels attracts a maximum charge of N500 from 0.75 percent of the transaction value subject to a maximum of N1,200. The charge for a Special Request for Statement of a Bill of Account is N200.
The CBN warned that any financial institution that breached any of the provisions as contained in the guide will pay a penalty of N2 million per infraction, or as may be determined by the CBN from time to time.
It urged bank customers with such complaints to contact the consumer protection department of the apex bank through the email – cpd@cbn.gov.ng. (NAN)
