Group faults CBN’s reintroduction of ATM charges

The Centre for Gregarious Justice has faulted the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria to reintroduce charges for the utilization of Automated Teller Machines by bank customers.

The central bank had last week issued an incipient directive for the re-exordium of the charge two years after it abolished the N100 fee per withdrawal on third-party ATMs.

It, however, noted that in lieu of the N100 fee, customers utilizing other banks’ ATMs would now pay N65 for the fourth of such transactions within a month with effect from September 1.

But the CSJ, in a verbalization on Sunday condemned the reintroduction of the fee, verbally expressing that there was no justification for it.

The group’s verbal expression was signed by its Lead Director, Mr. Eze Onyekpere.

It argued that since the charges were ceased in 2012, banks had been declaring immensely colossal profits.

It integrated that there was no credible evidence that banks’ balance sheets had been unduly impaired by their bearing of the charges.

The group, therefore, described the reintroduction of the ATM charge as a retrogressive step that would unduly burden bank customers, daunt the unbanked from utilizing the banking system and withal negate the cashless policy.

It stressed that a reversal of the policy should have addressed the premises and the rationale for the abstraction of the charges in the first place.

It, therefore, urged the CBN to consider the interest of all the parties that would be affected by this incipient directive and balance any conflicts by apportioning obligations to those best situated to bear them.

The group additionally noted that the reintroduction of the ATM charge negated Nigeria’s international and domestic economic and gregarious rights obligations as provided in Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution and the obligations under article 2 (1) of the Covenant on Economic, Gregarious and Cultural Rights.

It verbally expressed. “This incipient policy is an ostensible evidence of regulatory capture. Essentially, the regulator has been captured by the core institutions it is supposed to regulate.

“It is regrettable that the banks, which amass deposits from customers with little or no interest on savings, charge double digit interest rates on lending, will come around to coerce the arms of the CBN into ascertaining extra charges from ATM withdrawals alongside the bank charges and commissions placed on customers, such as the ATM issuance and maintenance fees; N50 charges on SMS alerts, emails and printing of account verbal expressions.

“It will, therefore, not be malapropos to ask: what accommodations do the banks categorically render to customers aside the safe keeping of customers’ cash?”

The group integrated, “In the light of the foregoing, the CSJ calls for the exigent reconsideration of the incipient policy to sanction the status quo to remain by abstracting the incipiently introduced ATM charges.

“This will give a good signal to the Nigerian banking public of the sincerity of the incipient CBN governor to ambulate the verbalize, thereby achieving credibility through policy consistency.”

It verbally expressed that if the CBN could not utilize its policy to facilitate the amendment of living conditions, it should not increment the encumbrance of the people.