CBN refunds N2.95bn excess bank charges to customers 

Alhaja Summa Dutse, CBN Director, Consumer Protection Department (CPD), made this known at a summit organised by the Bank Customers’ Association of Nigeria (BCAN) in Lagos.

Dutse spoke on: “Value-based Banking in Nigeria: Banks and their Customers.”

Dutse said that 50 per cent of the 4,141 petitions treated by CPD in the last four years were on excess charges by banks.

“We noticed that banks in the country often do not make full disclosure about hidden charges of their various products to their customers.

“Their staff members, through aggressive marketing, are more interested in getting deposits from customers than equipping them with adequate information that will encourage profitable financial decisions,” she said.

Mr Tam Tamunokonbia,  Head, Consumer Protection Council, Lagos Office, appealed to Nigerian banks to clearly express their contract terms and conditions.

Tamunokonbia regretted that bank customers often became victims of excess charges because they could not read the conditions attached to contracts.

He said that the conditions were often written in tiny and lengthy prints.

Dr Nnamdi Dimgba, Partner, Olaniwun Ajayi Law Firm, said that banks had legal obligations to respect contractual agreements with their customers.

Dimgba noted that the Constitution made provisions for aggrieved customers to sue  banks for breach of contract.

Earlier in his remarks, Dr Uju Ogbunika, President, BCAN, said that there was the need for banking to be conducted based on values and best practices.

Mr Emmanuel Okeje, Director, Financial Market Department, CBN, however, condemned the activities of some bank customers who were in the habit of misusing Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

“Bank customers now withdraw on ATMs on an average of six times a day because the charges have been removed.

“The banks are paying charges to their service providers even though the customers are not paying.

“ATM cards should not be used in excess; that is why we have limited the number of withdrawals a customer can make in a day,” he said.

He said that CBN policies were formulated to protect the customers, adding that adequate public sensitisation were made before their implementation.