A Non Governmental Organisation, the Consumer Initiative, has appealed to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to abolish the confiscation of cards withheld by Automated Teller Machine (ATM) in commercial banks.
Aliyu Ilias, Executive Director of the group, said this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said commercial banks operating in the country had been confiscating cards belonging to customers of other banks seized by their ATMs.
“We received complaints from bank customers on the issue and this was further verified through a survey.
“Commercial banks have over the years perfected and operated a system of confiscation of cards including but not limited to credit and debit cards.
“These belong to customers of other banks used on their ATMs and same withheld by the banks.
“This practice put in place by commercial banks in Nigeria ultimately forced cardholders to request and to pay for issuance of new cards by their respective banks,” Mr Ilias said.
He said that the practice had placed heavy burden on bank customers and cardholders.
He said the withholding of cards by ATMs was not most of the times, the fault of customers, cardholders or users as the case may be, adding that, it was usually due to ATMs fault or poor connectivity from the banks.
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