A recent public opinion poll by NOIPolls has revealed that most Nigerians (80 percent) are expressing concern over what they refer to as incessant and indiscriminate bank charges levied on their accounts by commercial banks. The poll, which was prompted by recent media reports and commentary on bank charges and deductions from customer accounts without prior communication; also revealed that most Nigerians (71 percent) consider the various charges as simply unfair in relation to the services rendered by the banks.


Similarly, the poll found that 72 percent of respondents say they have been noticing various deductions from their bank accounts; such as SMS charges (49 percent), ATM / Debit Card maintenance (46 percent) and 65 Naira charge after 3 withdrawals per month (38 percent) amongst other charges.

More findings from the poll revealed that about 7 in 10 respondents (76 percent) were of the opinion that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has not done enough to defend bank customers from the onslaught of incessant bank charges from commercial banks, particularly in this recession when ordinary Nigerians are feeling the pain of the economic downturn. In the same vein, respondents seized the opportunity of the poll to urge the CBN to regulate bank charges (31 percent) and/or compel banks to reduce transaction charges (28 percent); as well as those with extreme views that CBN should scrap bank charges (23 percent). These were some of the key findings from the Bank Charges Poll conducted by NOIPolls in the week commencing June 5th, 2017.

Brief Background

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in its 2017 Guide on Financial Charges stipulates that, if a new charge is to be introduced, financial institutions should get a prior written approval from the CBN and should be properly communicated to customers before such new charges are introduced and implemented; although, recent media reports revealed that some bank customers in Nigeria expressed concern on unauthorized and unfair charges on their account by their banks.

Similarly, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently reviewed the cashless policy and reintroduced charges on cash deposits and withdrawals. However, a cross section of citizens have been lamenting the unfavourable nature of these charges; especially in the light of the current economic climate. The negative implication of the charges on struggling Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have also been highlighted over time. Against this background, NOIPolls conducted a public opinion poll to gauge the perception of Nigerians regarding bank charges they have experienced in recent times.

Survey Findings

The poll was administered to only respondents who have bank accounts. The initial question sought to gauge the frequency of financial transactions carried out by respondents on bank accounts and 40 percent of the respondents revealed that they ‘sometimes’carry out financial transactions via their accounts and the North-West zone had the highest representation (55 percent) in this category. Similarly, while 27 percent said that they ‘often’ carry out transactions on their accounts, 21 percent indicated that they ‘always’ carry out financial transactions on their accounts and those aged 18 – 35 years had the larger share (25 percent) in this regard. It is worth noting that respondents who had never carried out a transaction on their accounts had their interviews terminated at this point.

Of the proportion who has their accounts running, 72 percent indicated that they have noticed some classification of charges or deductions from their bank accounts and residents from the South-East zone accounted for the largest proportion (80 percent) of respondents who asserted to this. On the other hand, 28 percent said that they have not noticed any deductions on their accounts recently and residents from the North-Central zone have the highest representation in this category.



Subsequently, respondents who have noticed some sort of charges on their accounts were further probed to state the kinds of charges they have noticed. Almost half of the respondents (49 percent) mentioned ‘SMS charge’ which is a fee that banks impose on customers for the notifications sent on every activity on their accounts. This is closely followed by 46 percent who stated that they are fully aware that ‘ATM / Debit Card maintenance’ fee is being deducted from their accounts periodically. Also, 38 percent mentioned the ‘65 Naira charge’ that banks charge its customers whenever the customer exceeds the allowed 3 minimum withdrawals from third party banks’ ATMs. Other mentions were ‘Interbank transaction charges’ (14 percent), ‘Monthly maintenance charges’ (9 percent), ‘Mobile banking charges’ (8 percent), among other mentions.

Most Nigerians (80 percent), expressed displeasure that they are rarely notified before new charges deducted from their accounts; and residents of the South-West geo-political zone (82 percent) accounted for the largest proportion in this category. On the contrary, 20 percent of respondents admitted that they often receive notifications from their banks before new charges are applied on their accounts.



Nigerians were also asked to match the services rendered by banks, in relation to the charges levied on their accounts. Interestingly about 7 in 10 respondents (71 percent) were strongly of the opinion that the charges levied on their accounts by the banks were simply unfair. On the contrary, 29 percent opined that the charges are fair.



Furthermore, the poll revealed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) needs to do more in regulating bank charges as 76 percent of the Nigerians stated that the CBN has not done enough to protect customers by addressing the issue of incessant charges and deductions by commercial banks. However, on the other hand, 24 percent claimed that CBN has done enough in regulating bank charges.



Lastly, the opinions of Nigerians were sought regarding suggestions to address the issue bank charges. As anticipated, 31 percent of respondents stated that the CBN should regulate bank charges, while 28 percent noted that the CBN should compel banks to reduce their transaction charges. Curiously, there were some extreme views expressed by some respondents that the CBN should simply scrap some of the unnecessary charges amongst others.



In conclusion, this report has clearly shown the growing concerns by Nigerians over charges levied on their accounts by commercial banks in the country. This is evidenced by the 71 percent of respondents who consider the incessant bank charges as unfair in relation to the services provided by the banks. Also, 80 percent of Nigerians expressed displeasure that they are rarely notified before new charges are deducted off their accounts. These findings highlight a critical need for the apex bank to step up its regulatory activities on the banks, as the general perception amongst the populace is that the CBN is not doing enough to protect customers from the commercial banks, especially in the light of the current economic recession.

SOURCE: https://brandspurng.com/80-nigerians-express-concern-over-indiscriminate-bank-charges-noipolls/

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Chart

and in conclusion

interesting...

Jjs

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The banking sector is really filled with thieves,corporate thieves for that matter.

It is truly becoming an issue

Scam scam everywhere....the govt is spamming the people same as bank and while the people is spamming there self....!!!

CBN as the watch dog of the financial industry should look into this

They should just warn GTB
Seems they have a personal beef for me
I thought interbank transfer charge is #50 per transaction but the always deduct #80
I get 3 sms alerts per transaction which I have to pay #4 for each.
So I pay #92 for every transaction
That's stealing

Buhari is a sick cursed cow. Malu. TUFIAKWA

in naija if u thief small u go jail thief big u become huspupiy u rob small u get born rob big u become egbegbe u kidnap small children u get jungle justice u kidnap big u become Evans u collect ajo u become alajo u collect big cash u become a banker and if u in banking u can rob people they can only make noise they don't HV money to sue u so they play by ur rules even if they don't c it

RasTafariI:
Union Bank of Nigeria is a thief

which bank do you now prefer?

cy4cent:
Uba is a big thief

Government of the people indeed

More than 80 sef

After tweeting FCMB they returned my money back.

fernandez1:
Scam scam everywhere....the govt is spamming the people same as bank and while the people is spamming there self....!!!

why spamming instead of scamming. any way naija for u any thing goes

first bank charges too outrageous.

Bubu government laying burdens on the masses which they themselves cannot bear.

Hmmmmm

It's just terrible. Some banks don't notify you when taking those charges. You will only see it when you look at your account statement.

FIRST BANK is worst.
My wife decided not to use them again because of unnecessary charges. She moved all her funds to another bank and left only their N1000 minimum balance. And guess what? The N1000 minimum balance was debited to remain N390 in 2 months. They kept debiting for SMS alert despite not using the account.
The bank is a first class fraudster. Worst than Evans

Bank SMS charge major culprit! As for the annual ATM debit card maintenance charge, someone with an idea should please explain what they are maintaining after we have been charged for procuring same card!

xnsandrxns:
They should just warn GTB
Seems they have a personal beef for me
I thought interbank transfer charge is #50 per transaction but the always deduct #80
I get 3 sms alerts per transaction which I have to pay #4 for each.
So I pay #92 for every transaction
That's stealing

Quickly go and fill an indemnity form canceling the sms alerts. You can stick to email notifications only if you have a smartphone

Got mail from GTB 2days ago about a 13,800 debit for something I never asked or subscribed to. I have had nothing to do with the bank for over 4yrs I got fed up with their handling of my card issues. And will not have a thing to do with them. They can get the money from wherever they see it in the account.
Diamond bank sent theirs midnight today, I have never used the account before and thankfully too. They can as well, collect the 9,400 from the Nano millions in there.
I dey put my money for kolo or dig ground put am that way, these amase anfani pipo agaghi eri'm