Mixed reactions yesterday trailed
the reintroduction of banks the
N65 charge on remote-on-us
Automated Teller Machines
(ATMs). The Central Bank had in
a circular to the banks stated
that the reintroduction of remote-
on-us ATM cash withdrawal
would now be N65 per
transaction as against the former
N100 per transaction, suspended
in December 2012.
A cross-section of banks’
customers who spoke to Daily
Sun in Lagos expressed
displeasure over the
development as some of them
have already been debited N65
today for exceeding the targeted
transactions on other banks’
ATMs.
While some customers felt that
the fees charged for the ATM
remote-on-us usage should be
further reduced to between N35
and N50, others argue that the
fees should be proportional with
the amount withdrawn by the
customer.
A customer, who preferred to be
addressed as Musa condemned
the policy, describing it as anti-
people and a demonstration of
lack of foresight.
He said, “it is not a welcome
development to the masses. I
think it is only in Nigeria that this
kind of zigzag policy is
happening. How on earth will a
CBN introduce a policy to protect
and reduce the sufferings of its
people and then later, after a
change of one person in the CBN,
the same set of people that
agreed on that policy will now
reverse the policy?
“What benefit will they get in
making people suffer and why
are our leaders not analysing
situations before they introduce
harsh economic policies that
always make people lose
confidence in them. How can the
reintroduction of that policy
strengthen our economy?”
President of National Association
of Nigeria Traders, Ken Okoaha,
in his reaction said: “As far as
traders are concerned, this is a
reverse gear on the cashless
drive of the CBN. We believe the
current situation should prevail
until such a time when we
generally embrace cashless
policy.”
Also speaking, Vincent Dauda, a
customer of one of the
commercial banks in the county,
noted that he regretted the policy
summersault of the CBN, saying,
“I used to have very high regards
for the CBN but recently I have
had reasons to suspect that they
are no longer thorough with their
fiscal policy responsibility.
“Firstly, they asked banks to
withdraw ATM from public
locations and they complied.
Shortly after, they said the banks
can now deploy, then they
stopped what we felt was an
exorbitant charge. What does
this suggest? Failure of feasibility
study by the CBN, period.”
Meanwhile, the apex bank and
the Bankers Committee stated
that the decision was in the
economic interest of the country,
as the removal of the charges
had a negative effect on the
cashless policy.
“The wear and tear as well as the
frequency of servicing the ATMs
has increased significantly.
Indeed, some customers were
beginning to abuse the use of
ATMs through countless
withdrawals. This development
has led to increase in cash
transactions, which negates the
bank’s cashless policy,” the CBN
said in a circular.
According to the CBN, if a part of
this cost goes unabated, the
banks may be forced to reject
transactions coming from their
customers at other banks’ ATMs,
thereby frustrating the inter-
operability of payment systems. sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=79844