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THE Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has reviewed bank charges on certain categories of cash deposits and withdrawals.  A CBN circular to all Deposit Money Banks made available to Realnews said the decision to reintroduce the charges on cash deposits was taken at the bankers’ committee meeting in Abuja two weeks ago as part of the review of charges on deposits and withdrawals under the cashless policy.

 Signed by Dipo Fatokun, director, Banking and Payments System Department, CBN, the circular said that the committee decided that the cashless policy should be extended to the remaining 30 states of the federation.

It also directed that with effect from April 1, 2017, banks in the states where the cashless policy was already operating, Lagos, Ogun, Anambra, Abia, Kano, Rivers and the Federal Capital Territory, would begin to impose charges on deposits and withdrawals above N500,000.

Banks will charge individuals 1.5 per cent and two per cent for deposits and withdrawals between N500,000 and N1m. Individuals depositing or withdrawing between N1m and N5m will be charged two per cent and three per cent, respectively.

For N5m and above, banks will charge such individuals three per cent and 7.5 per cent for deposits and withdrawals, respectively.

For corporate customers, deposits and withdrawals under N3m will not attract any charge, but customers depositing or withdrawing between N3m and N10m will be charged two per cent and five per cent, respectively.

For deposits and withdrawals between N10m and N40m, customers will be charged three per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively. Deposits or withdrawals above N40m by corporate customers will attract a charge of five per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.

The new policy on charges will be implemented in selected states on May 1 and August 1, while the total implementation will be concluded on October 1.

Also, the bankers’ committee agreed that income generated from the processing fees above the allowable cash limits would be shared between it and the banks in the ratio of 40:60.

Organisations exempted from the new rules are revenue generating agencies of the federal, state and local governments (for lodgements), embassies, diplomatic missions, multilateral and aid agencies.  The apex bank directed lenders to train their employees to enlighten customers on the new policy.

Feb 25, 2016 @ 11:00 GMT

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