I was watching an interview with an economist this morning on TV, and he alleges that corruption in our banks is higher that those of the police. He said that all bank M.Ds should be in jail. The banks are stealing from the government and its customers. All though i am not so literate (economics wise), but these are what i understood of his arguments.

1. The banks are stealing Withholding Tax from the governments. withholding tax should be paid to State government if the transaction/contract involves an individual and it is to be paid to the Federal Government if it is a corporate organization, all within seven days of its receipt by the banks. But it is alleged that the banks do not pay.

2. The banks are said to collude with banks to steal money from government by collecting deposits from a government ministry at low interest rates and borrow the same money to the same government agency or another parastatal under the ministry at exorbitant interest rates, and keep the difference.

3. The Banks steals VAT from Government by not remitting the VAT payments to government.

4. The Banks are said to steal from customers by overcharging for bank draft. According to CBN rules, the fees for any bank draft should be N300 whatever the amount, but most banks are known to charge N500 or even N1000 according to the value of the draft. Imagine how much they make from exams like JAMB, where over 1million students buy drafts .

5. They also steal from customers in the name of COT (charge on transaction, i think). The COT should only be charge when you withdraw money, but most time arbitrary fees are charged in the name of COT. It is said most times the charges cannot be explained by your account officer. So it is advice to always scrutinize you account statement now and then ( that is if they send you one).

Although there are others i cannot remember now, but these ones are very weighty allegations.

Please can anyone with know educate us if these allegations are true or false. Also lets hear of your experience of sharp practices by Nigerian banks