First Bank has taken it to another level in having to deduct the same amount of withdrawal fee twice in the same month within the space of two days . It's either they are heartless robbers or have so much customers that they need to cut down by pissing them off with fraudulent charges

I think some people are getting the banking model mixed up with the asset management model.

1. The Banking model works as follows.
The bank entices people to come and deposit their funds with them and hence lures Mr A, Mr B and Mr C to deposit money with the bank in return for safety, ability to access funds when needed and interest payment on the funds (ie 3.5% or so). This enticement includes offers of chances to win a free car, generators etc (in the case of FBN).
The Bank then turns around and lends 75% of that money (CBN says they must keep 25% on hand in case Mr A needs to withdraw some money) to Mr D, E and F at 24% (including an assortment of fees). This gives the bank an income of 18%. Assuming Mr. D's transaction goes bad and the bank loses 5%, this leaves them with an income of 13% of which they are supposed to pay 3.5% to Mr A, B and C. The remaining 9.5% is the bank's true income, where the bank is supposed to pay salaries from, maintain branches, ATMS etc (This illustration is greatly simplified)
The more the depositors, the larger the transactions that bank can do, and the more the money the bank is able to make. Banks earn enough from this 9.5% to never have to charge fees to depositors ever. Under the banking model, the bank ends up with the gain on investment and pays the investor a small percentage for providing the capital. However, the risk is less as you will not end up with less than you invested, although, with all these fees, this is no longer true.

2. The Asset Management Model
The Asset Manager entices investors to deposit funds with it in exchange for better returns than the bank can offer.
The Asset Manager then invests these funds into a mixture of investments which includes equity (shares or stock market) and debt (loans). There is a greater risk in this model because it is possible for investors to end up with less than they invested. However, it is in the Asset Manager's interest to ensure that the funds are invested soundly because the Asset Manager charges fees on the profits they are able to make for the investor. It is from these fees that the Asset Manager pays salaries from, maintains branches etc.
Under this model, the investor ends up with the gain on the investment and rewards the Manager by paying a fee for the generation of such returns.

The "Account Management Fee" is actually an aberration because the word "Management" connotes a lot more than the banks do for you when you deposit funds with them.

There is a lot at play here. First Bank is obviously in Dire Straits if it has resorted to robbing customers. I suspect that there was a lot of mismanagement, there under the former MD and the New MD is under pressure to do magic. The laziest, brain-dead way to do that is to rob customers since they figure customers will be ill equipped to fight the robbery.
However, the long term impact of that can be devastating. If customers start closing accounts, the bank will definitely shrink in size and no longer be "First" Bank. This new MD is likely more of a Manager than a Leader.

This tactic was well employed under Soludo as he allowed the banks cloud his judgement by turning him into a celebrity CBN Governor. Despite several fx policy mistakes by Sanusi in his attempt to pander to foreigners who made him a celebrity abroad, he was for the people and Banks would not try to think about trying such moves under him. Now we have Emefiele who is more or less an establishment man, here to protect the interest of the banks which will ensure that such practices will resurface and remain. He has effectively halted all the policies implemented by Sanusi that was supposed to protect and favor customers.

There is little hope that such practices will end, till Emefiele is out, so it is best to vote by moving accounts. I will definitely do that, as inconvenient as it may be. Such customer robbing techniques used to be the preserve of banks like Zenith and UBA...now add Ecobank and FBN. What a pity.

There is a good reason why First Bank's share prices fell from N18 to N3.50 and now we are seeing why it will fall to N2.20

It is also expected, that a bank should notify its customers well ahead, of any new fees so that the customers are informed and can make their own decisions as to whether to accept or leave. This backdoor approach to bleeding customers smacks of desperation, meaning things are much worse than investors/customers realize.

I have already commenced moving my 4 FBN accounts to GTBank and will ensure my staff move their accounts as well. I do not take kindly to being robbed.

I don't think moving banks is the solution.

Let us mail CBN and CPC with our complaints, bombard twitter, Facebook and other social media.
We can't run forever.

Someone here gave us the CBN and CPC emails. So I go nowhere. They must return my money.

imagine the dubious alert I got on Friday .whenever these thieves see small money in my account they will empty it gradually.I can't bear this wickedness anymore.I need help here

please whoever has a likely solution to this problem of first bank theft should contact me.let's sue these people 08036731095

Anyone able to get 1stBank to refund the charge?

Yes I was able to get dem to reverse it, sent a mail to first bank and copied cbn

Pls friends which bank can i open account, fidelity or GTB ,?first bank dey withdraw 100 for my account monthly.my sister dat is using fidelity account dey keep deposited her money every month.as a student wey i be 100 is big for me.

This thread really helped a lot, the money was returned to my account yesterday after I complained by mailing there customer care.

All These Things Do Happen Really But Can Be Correctd By Knwin Full Details Of The Account Type One Is Runnin, And Later On Update It 2 D One That Best Suite.

9jaOfficial:
I just received a similar debit alert of 4,438 Naira for "Withdrawal Fee" in my savings account with First Bank. I have other saving account with other banks that I run actively too, but no such charges. Isn't this a big fraud from First Bank? Pls drop ur comments!!!

I use first bank and I've never experienced this. There must be something wrong with your Acct. If I were you I would just move my funds to another bank until the issue is resolved with them. The only fees I know they charge are the monthly maintenance fees and transfer fees of N105 whenever a transfer is done to a different bank. I also get tax deductions which are compensated with interest of over 2k monthly. Other than these, no other charges