By Godfrey AKON
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, last Thursday, reviewed bank charges across the country, including removal of ATM maintenance fees, electronic fund transfers and bulk payments, among others.
The reduction of charges was conveyed by the apex bank in its amended guidelines titled “Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial and Non-Bank Financial Institutions,” which were first published in 2004 and revised in 2013, 2017 and 2020.
Based on the guidelines, the CBN said standing order charges for intra-bank will be free compared to the N300 in the 2017 guideline, adding that Interbank Transfers is reduced to a maximum of N50 per transaction compared to the N300 in 2017.
The bank said bills payment, including bills payment through other e-channels, is negotiable subject to a maximum of N500 per beneficiary payable by sender, a review from the N1,200 or 0.75 percent for a biller or merchant to pay.
It also reviewed electronic funds transfer downwards to N10 charge for a transaction below N5000; N26 for transaction of N5001 to N50,000 while transactions above N50,000 will be charged N50, while withdrawals on other banks’ ATMS were reduced from N65 to N35 after the third withdrawal within the same month.
The apex bank also reduced ATM bill payment from N100 to N50. Debit card maintenance charges that were N100/Month have been removed in the new guideline.
It, however, warned that financial institutions that breach any of the provisions in the new guide would face a fine of N2,000,000 per infraction or as may be determined by the CBN from time to time.
