CBN Cuts ATM Fee To N35, Drops Maintenance Fee
Umoru Abdulkadir
As part of measures to ensure accessibility to financial services at affordable rates as well as encourage citizens to own bank accounts, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Sunday slashed the withdrawal fee charged Customers for the use of other banks’ Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) after the third withdrawal within the same month to N35 from N65.
The Apex Regulator also removed Card Maintenance Fee on all cards linked to current accounts and also directed banks to charge a maximum of N1 per mille for customer induced debit transactions to third parties, and transfers or lodgments to the customers’ account in other banks on current accounts only.
These new charges were contained in the latest Guide to Charges by Banks and Other Financial Institutions just released by the CBN today, December 22, 2019
According to the CBN, other than a reduction in ATM charges as well as removal of card maintenance fee on current accounts, bank customers are now to pay only N10 for electronic transfers below N5, 000, and N25 for electronic transfer between N5, 000 and N50, 000 while electronic transfers above N50, 000 will continue to attract a N50 charge as against what was obtainable where all electronic transfers were pegged at N50 irrespective of the value of the transfer.
The CBN also said the current NIP charges apply to use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), purchase with cash-back will attract a charge of N100 per N20, 000 subject to cumulative N60, 000 daily withdrawal while cards linked to savings account, maintenance fee has been reduced to a maximum of N50 per quarter from N50 per month amounting to only N200 per annum instead of N600.
According to the new guideline, accounts reactivation or closure such as savings, current and domiciliary accounts will no longer be charged while status enquiry at the instance of the customer such as request for confirmation letter, letter of non-indebtedness and reference letters will attract a fee of N500 per request.
On issuance of debit-card charges, the new guide specifies that a one-off charge of N1, 000 applies to the issuance of cards, irrespective of card type (regular or premium). The same one-off charge of N1, 000 applies for the replacement of debit cards at the customer’s instance for lost or damaged cards. In the same vein, upon expiry of existing cards, customers are to pay the same one-off charge of N1, 000 irrespective of card type, an indication that debit cards’ issuance remained unchanged.
According to the CBN, the charges prescribed in the Guide which take effect from January 1, 2020, were arrived at after extensive consultations with stakeholders and are expected to enhance flexibility, transparency and competition in the Nigerian banking industry.
In order to ensure strict compliance to the new Guide and as well as guard against excess, unapproved or arbitrary charges by banks and other financial institutions, the Guide stipulates a penalty of N2,000,000 per infraction or as may be determined by the CBN from time to time for financial institutions that breach any provision of the guide.
While urging financial services providers and their customers to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Guide to be properly guided, It directed banks to lodge every complaint received from their customers into the Consumer Complaints Management System (CCMS), as failure to do so will amount to a breach sanctionable with a penalty of N1,000,000 per breach
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