By Babajide Komolafe

A major concern for most bank customers is money deducted by banks for various charges and fees. Some customers are of the opinion that the charges deducted by their banks are excessive, unreasonable and even criminal. This may be true.

I have witnessed a case where a bank regularly deducted a debited account of an organisation for SMS charges, meanwhile, the organisation did not enroll for SMS alert, and none of the signatories to the account was getting alerts. When the bank was confronted with evidence, the SMS charges were refunded to the organisation.

This is one of several examples of cases of banks debiting customers for services not rendered or charging customers more than the fees they are allowed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

Most bank customers allow banks to get away with excess charges because the money deducted is usually small, usually below N100, especially compared to the effort and money the customer has to spend to engage the bank to refund the excess charge. Another reason why banks get away with excess charges is that customers are not even aware of the fees and amount the banks are allowed to charge.

So while on one hand the customer suspects excess charge by the banks, he lacks the knowledge to prove it.

As a result the customer does not take action to act on the suspicion.
A CBN document called “The Guide To Charges By Banks, Other Financial And Non-Bank Financial Institutions,” lists all the charges and fees that are allowed for services and products rendered by banks and financial institutions.
According to the CBN, “

The charges prescribed in the Guide were arrived at after extensive consultations with stakeholders.

The intent of the Guide is to enhance flexibility, transparency and competition in the Nigerian banking industry.

“Where a charge is stipulated as “negotiable”, financial institutions are required to draw the attention of customers to their rights to negotiate and the two parties are required to mutually agree on the applicable charge via a verifiable means.

“Financial Institutions are to note that any breach of the provisions of this Guide carries a penalty of N2,000,000 per infraction or as may be determined by the CBN from time to time.
“Where a bank is found to have wrongfully imposed a particular charge on its customers, the provision of Section (i) above shall apply for the charge on each customer by the CBN from time to time.

“Failure to comply with CBN’s directive in respect of any infraction shall attract a further penalty of N2,000,000 daily until the directive is complied with or as may be determined by the CBN from time to time.”