CBN to go against banks for excess charges

Customers who have been groaning under excess and illegal charges by the deposit money banks will soon have some respite as the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN has moved to enforce such activity.

BusinessDay had reported how customers have been groaning under the heavy burden of Commission on Turnover (CoT), being charged by banks in defiance of collective agreement between them and the CBN that the charges be phased out this year.

Aside CoT charges, banks’ other charges include SMS alert, annual account maintenance fee, stamp duty, and VAT, among other charges.

Some of the officials of the banks who spoke to Business Day said that their renege on the agreement is as a result of no one taking the lead in the industry on the effective compliance.

A customer of one tier two bank who made a withdrawal of N30,000 at the weekend was charged N100.00k CoT. The same customer made another withdrawal of N120,000 and the same amount was charged as CoT. When he enquired from his account officer, he was told that no bank had started implementing zero CoT and that such charges would continue until further notice.

The CBN in 2013 released the guidelines titled: “Guide to Bank charges” which gradually phased out CoT in 2016. According to the guidelines “CoT was reduced to N3 per N1,000 in 2013, N2 per N1,000 in 2014 and N1 per N1,000 in 2015, while it will be phased out in 2016.”

But the CBN in a circular issued recently, directed banks to introduce a “negotiable” current account maintenance fee to replace the CoT fee, which was abolished on January 1st, 2016.

However, the CBN said it has received series of complaints from customers of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), alleging excessive and in some cases, illegal charges from their respective banks.

“The Revised Guide to Bank Charges clearly specifies allowable charges for all banking services and the CBN does not in any way condone the fleecing of banking customers under any guise”, Ibrahim Muazu, director, corporate communication, said, in a statement.

It was in the quest to provide a strong voice to banks’ customers and moderate the arbitrary charges that the CBN established its Consumer Protection Department in 2012.

Muazu noted in the statement that the CBN has investigated over 6000 complaints relating to unauthorized bank charges brought to its notice, following which banks have been compelled to refund the sum of over N6.2 billion to affected customers in 2015 alone.

“The CBN wishes to reiterate its resolve to continuously enforce the provision of the Revised Guide to Bank Charges and has urged members of the public to report cases of infringement to enable it investigate and apply sanctions on any erring Deposit Money Bank”, he said further.

 

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE