CBN slash bank charges, reduce ATM withdrawal fee to N35 (see details of the new bank charges for all transactions)

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced the downward review of most of the bank fees and charges in a new Guide to Bank Charges released today 22 December 2019. In its quest to further make financial services more accessible and affordable to various stakeholders in the economy,

The new Guide to Charges by Banks, Other Financial, and Non-bank Financial Institutions, which will take effect from January 1, 2020 was announced in Abuja on Sunday by the CBN’s Director, corporate communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor who explained that some of the major highlights of the new Guide to include:

For Bank Fees

Removal of Card Maintenance Fee on all cards linked to current accounts.
For cards linked to savings accounts, Card Maintenance Fee has been reduced to a maximum of N50 per quarter from N50 per month.
For Account Maintenance Fee, Maximum of one Naira 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,
Reduction in the amount payable for cash withdrawals from other banks’ Automated Teller Machines (Not-on-us), as well as from N65 to N35, after the third withdrawal within one month.
Advance Payment Guarantee (APG) is pegged at a maximum of one per cent (1%) of the APG value in the first year and 0.5% for subsequent years on all contingent liabilities.
Status enquiry at the request of the customer (like confirmation letter, letter of non-indebtedness and reference letter) will now attract a fee of N500 per request.

For ATM Cards

A one-off charge of N1,000 applies to the issuance of all card type (regular or premium).
The same N1,000 applies for the replacement of debit cards at the customer’s instance for lost or damaged cards.
For replacement of expired cards, the same one-off charge of N1,000 irrespective of card type.
No charge will be required for loading of transfers from prepaid card.

Other Charges:

NIP charges as it 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.
No more charges for reactivation or closure of accounts such as savings, current and domiciliary accounts.

Mr. Okorafor mentioned that the CBN carried out the review of the charges guide in order to align with current market developments.

The Guide, however stipulates a penalty of N2,000,000 per infraction to guard against excess, unapproved or arbitrary charges by banks and other financial institutions. Or as may be determined by the CBN from time to time for financial institutions that breach any provision of the guide.

“It also emphasized that failure by any bank to comply with CBN’s directive in respect of any infraction shall attract a further penalty of N2,000,000 daily until the directive is complied with or as may be determined by the CBN from time to time.

“It therefore directed banks to log every complaint received from their customers into the Consumer Complaints Management System (CCMS) in addition to generating a unique reference code for each complaint lodged, which must be given to the customer. Failure to log and provide the code to the customer, it added, amounts to a breach and is sanctionable with a penalty of N1,000,000 per breach.”

According to the CBN Director, “The charges prescribed in the Guide were arrived at after extensive consultations with stakeholders and are expected to enhance flexibility, transparency and competition in the Nigerian banking industry.

“This Guide, which replaces the Guide to Charges by Banks and Other Financial Institutions issued in 2017, takes effect from January 1, 2020, and may be reviewed from time to time to reflect changes in the business environment.

“The CBN therefore urged financial services providers and their customers alike to acquaint themselves with the provisions of the Guide and be properly guided accordingly.“