The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has reacted to the plan of the Central Bank of Nigeria to begin to charge bank customers making cash deposits and withdrawals above a certain threshold. The chamber said the time frame was too short and that the policy disruptive effects on bank customers and other stakeholders.
The Director-General, Muda Yusuf, in a statement asked for more time for the implementation of the cashless policy. Yusuf said that the CBN circular should have given a much longer notice instead of just a day notice of implementation.
“This would have short term disruptive effects. We implore the CBN to give at least two months to allow for players in the economy to adequately prepare themselves. This is particularly so for investors who are major players in the retail segment of the economy.
“It is difficult to justify the decision to penalize cash depositors. The emphasis should be on discouraging cash transactions and withdrawals, which is more in consonance with the objective of the policy.”
[READ MORE: Forex: Multiple rates scare investors, LCCI to CBN)
More details: Although Yusuf commended the policy, he called for more time for enlightenment and incentives to be put in place by the CBN. According to him, the transitioning process requires robust enlightenment, consultation and stakeholder engagements.
While giving reasons why the cashless policy is commendable, he said it would entail the reduction in ATM fraud, internet fraud and other fraudulent activities on the various electronic platform. Yusuf also noted that financial institutions should continuously strive to raise the level of confidence of citizens in the electronic payment platform.
[READ ALSO: CBN’s 60% LDR Target: Don’t lend to unbankable projects – LCCI warns banks)
Recall that Nairametrics reported that the CBN policy would attract 3% processing fees for withdrawals and 2% processing fees for deposits for amounts above N500,000 for individual accounts.
Also, for corporate accounts, the Deposits Money Banks (DMBs) would charge 5% processing fees for withdrawals and 3% processing fee for lodgments of amounts above N3,000,000.
