ÇBN cancels N100 Monthly ATM Maintenance Fee

ÇBN cancels N100 Monthly ATM Maintenance Fee:
The Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday announced the cancellation of the N100 monthly Automatic Teller Machine card maintenance fee introduced by some banks recently and which generated public condemnation.
The CBN in a circular titled, ‘Revised guide to bank charges,’ posted on its website, however, pegged the maintenance fee at N100 annually.
Also affected is the mandatory cost of Short Message Service alert which has been pegged at N4 subject to the Nigerian Communication Commission’s directives.
The circular, which takes effect from April 1, read, “In order to reflect current developments in the market and provide clarity on banking terms, the CBN recently conducted a review of the guide in consultation with all the banks and discount houses, Bankers’ Committee, financial experts and also considered inputs received from other stakeholders to produce the revised guide to bank charges.”
On electronic transfer, the bank said N70 would be charged on transactions below N500,000 while N100 should be charged on transactions between N500,000 and N1m. Transactions above N1m will attract a charge of N500.
It said issuing fee of a debit card should exceed N1,000, while international withdrawals per transaction on debit cards should be charged at N240 rather than N1,000 being currently charged by almost all the banks.
The CBN pegged the interest on savings deposit accounts at a minimum of 30 per cent of the Monetary Policy Rate per annum.
It would be recalled that following the Bankers’ Committee meeting in November 2012 which scrapped the N100 interbank charge on the use of ATM cards, some banks went ahead to introduce the N100 monthly maintenance fee on ATM cards...