Sequel to repeated complaints from bank customers of excessive charges by their banks on withdrawals from Automated Teller Machine (ATM), the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has warned that banks deducting monies illegally from their customers’ accounts for products and services, will be made to refund such monies with interest.
CBN’s Consumer Complaints Manager, Consumer Protection Department, Fada David, noted that the Monetary Policy Circular of the CBN gives certain guidelines as to how much should be refunded to customers if excess charges are discovered.
He said part of the punitive measures is that if excess charges are discovered, they are refunded to consumers with interest.
Recent reports show that nine deposit money banks earned a total of ₦418.52 billion from fees and commissions in full-year 2017, representing 8.09 percent increase over ₦387.18 billion earned in the corresponding year of 2016.
Fees and commissions revenue includes bank charges such as account maintenance fees, stamp duty, commission on turnover (COT) and SMS alerts, among others.
The financial statements released by one of the banks shows it earned ₦24.98 billion from electronic banking fees in 2017, which was an increase of 14.43 percent compared to ₦21.83 billion in 2016.
Another bank with total asset size of ₦4.10 trillion as of 2017 made ₦6.45 billion from account maintenance charges and handling of commission in full financial year ended December 2017, indicating a 147.12 percent increase from ₦2.61 billion in 2016.
He, however, advised bank customers to demand for their monthly statement of account. This he said would help customers to monitor their accounts closely.
In his words:
“If it is a savings product, a customer should know how it works, how many times to withdraw in a month, how much interest to expect and the minimum deposit on the account.”
