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Tag: Banks

  • Banks compelled to refund over N89bn to customers over complaints

    Banks compelled to refund over N89bn to customers over complaints

    The Gov. of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Dr Godwin Emefiele on Thursday disclosed that at the end of June 2021, commercial banks in Nigeria refunded N89.2 billion to customers over complaints.

    Emefiele made the disclosure during a CBN Fair held simultaneously in Cross River and Akwa Ibom with the theme “Promoting financial stability and economic development”.

    Represented by Mr Osita Nwanisobi, Acting Director, Corporate Communication Department of the CBN, the governor said the cumulative number of complaints from customers of banks as at June was 23,526 while 22,173 were resolved.

    According him, the fair became necessary to create awareness on CBN interventions and how it was impacting on the lives and businesses of the people.

    “When the CBN governor assumed duty as the 11th governor of the apex bank, he made a profound statement that he wants a people centred CBN and you cannot have that if you do not engage.

    “Also, CBN has about 37 targeted interventions which includes The Targeted Credit Facility, Health Sector Intervention, Commercial Agric Credit Scheme, Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Fund and others.

    “In addition, we want to use this opportunity to build the confidence of Nigerians that the nation’s financial institutions are resilient, stable and safe.

    “Nigerians have nothing to fear as the CBN carries out a periodic examination of the banks,” he said.

    On the issue of digital currency by the CBN, the governor asserted that Nigerians needed to understand that crypto currencies are issued by unknown entities without regulations.

    He added that the digital currency which CBN intends to issue would be regulated by the apex bank and it can be used for the nation’s monetary policy.

    In his remarks, Mr Daramola Atanda, Head, Consumer Protection Department of the CBN, noted that Nigerians must know their rights as customers and report cases of violations to the CBN on 07002255226 or cpd@cbn.gov.ng.

    Atanda however asked bank customers to be responsible as there were issues that were in their own purview; such as understanding the package given to them by a bank.

    He also appealed to customers to ensure that they repay their loans and also protect their financial instruments such as their debit cards and others.

    Speaking virtually, from Uyo, Mrs Amina Abdulmalik from the Currency Operations Department of the CBN, called on Nigerians to handle the Naira with care as it was a national pride.

    “Our Naira notes are supposed to last for about two years after printing but due to poor handling, some of them do not last for more than three months,” she said.

  • CBN releases supervisory framework for payment service banks

    CBN releases supervisory framework for payment service banks

    The Central of Nigeria (CBN) has released the Guidelines for the Licensing and Regulation of Payment Service Banks (PSBs) in Nigeria.

    Information obtained in the apex bank’s website indicated that the guidelines was first issued in 2018 and revised in 2020.

    It stated that the PSBs were expected to leverage on technology to provide services that would be easily accessed by the unbanked population and those in hard-to reach areas of the country.

    “This framework hereby provides a set of regulations that are targeted at streamlining operations of PSBs, ensuring transparency in their operations as well as ensuring adequate customer protection.

    “The framework focuses on corporate governance, risks management of the PSBs and safety of funds to the consumers of the PSBs’ products.

    “This framework also aims to ensure that sound risk management practices are embedded in the operations of the PSBs,’’ it said.

    The apex bank further explained that PSBs were required to comply with relevant extant regulations and CBN’s prudential guidelines and circulars which were issued periodically.

    “They shall use the words “Payment Service Bank” in their names to differentiate them from other banks.

    “However, the name of a PSB shall not include any word that links it to its parent company or promoter,’’ it said.

    CBN listed other guidelines as follows -“They shall operate mostly in the rural areas and unbanked locations targeting financially excluded persons with not less than 25 per cent financial service touch points in such rural areas as defined by the CBN from time to time.

    “Enter into direct partnership with card scheme operators. Such cards shall not be eligible for foreign currency transactions.

    “Deploy ATMs in some of these areas; deploy Point of Sale devices; and be at liberty to operate through banking.

    “Roll out agent networks with the prior approval of the CBN; use other channels including electronic platforms to reach-out to its customers; establish coordinating centres in clusters of outlets to superintend and control activities of the various financial service touch points and banking agents.’’

  • VIDEOS: Bloody Wednesday in Osun as rampaging robbers attack banks, police station, kill five

    VIDEOS: Bloody Wednesday in Osun as rampaging robbers attack banks, police station, kill five

    Some daredevil robbers on Wednesday had a field day attacking commercial banks and police station in Osun State.

    According to reports, the robbery incident which left five persons dead happened at Ikire and Apomu, Irewole and Isokan local government areas of the state.

    It was gathered that the armed robbers had earlier robbed a bank in Apomu town around 5:00 p.m. before proceeding to Ikire where they killed three persons at a commercial bank’s Automated Teller Machine (ATM).

    Two other persons were said the have been killed in the community during the sporadic shooting.

    The police spokesperson in the state, Yemisi Opalola, while confirming the incident said she cannot confirm the casualty figure, but the Commissioner of Police, Olawale Olokode, is already at the scene of the incident.

    The police spokesperson was also unable to establish how much the robbers carted away in the separate attacks on commercial banks in the state.

    A resident of Ikire, who witnessed the robbery from a distance said: “The robbers came into the community around 5:55 p.m. and were shooting. I don’t know maybe they were able to enter the bank and cart away money but I am sure that some persons were killed.”

     

  • European Commission fines three banks €28.5m for breaking the bloc’s antitrust rules

    European Commission fines three banks €28.5m for breaking the bloc’s antitrust rules

    The European Commission has fined three banks, a total of 28.5 million euros (34.4 million dollars) for breaking the bloc’s antitrust rules.

    The affected banks include Merrill Lynch of the U.S., France’s Credit Agricole, and Switzerland’s Credit Suisse.

    Deutsche Bank was not fined because it revealed the existence of the bond-trading cartel, the EU executive branch said in a Wednesday press release announcing the move.

    The rule-breaking relates to the secondary trading market within the European Economic Area of Supra-sovereign, Sovereign, and Agency (SSA) bonds in U.S. dollars within the European Economic Area.

    A group of traders at the four competing investment banks colluded on “trading strategies, exchanged sensitive pricing information and coordinated on prices,” European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in the same press release.

    This behavior restricted competition in a market in “which investment and pension funds regularly buy and sell bonds on behalf of their investors and pensioners,’’ she said, adding that the commission would not tolerate such collusive behaviour.

    When approached for comment, Credit Suisse said it still believes the individual former employee criticised by the EU executive had not committed any anti-competitive behaviour.

    Credit Suisse intends to appeal the decision in European courts.

  • IPOB denies plans to attack banks, others to source money for arms

    IPOB denies plans to attack banks, others to source money for arms

    The outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has dismissed alleged plans by its security outfit, Eastern Security Network (ESN), to attack banks in the Southeast for the purpose of acquire money to purchase arms as false.

    The group described the report as propaganda by the security agencies to blackmail and dent the global reputation of the security network.

    In a statement i by the Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, IPOB assured financial institutions in the zone of their safety, just as it warned the security agencies to desist from spreading such propaganda.

    The statement reads: “We the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by our great and indomitable Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, wish to put banks in Biafra land on notice of a wicked plot by the Nigeria security agencies to harm them.

    “Our intelligence unit has uncovered a fabricated propaganda by the Department of State Services DSS, that Eastern Security Network, ESN is planning to attack banks in Biafraland to acquire money to purchase arms.

    “DSS is propelling this wicked propaganda all in a bid to blackmail ESN and IPOB, and dent our global reputation. We therefore, wish to debunk this falsehood and blatant lie from the pit of hell.

    “IPOB and ESN are not criminals and we have no plans or agenda to touch any institution particularly banks. We are not looking for money to buy arms because we produce our arms locally and cannot attack or kidnap anybody for ransom.

    “We don’t inflict pains on the people we are fighting for their freedom. DSS must stop this rubbish and engage their time on something more meaningful. This poor script cannot fly.

    “IPOB and ESN are very disciplined groups, and we cannot indulge in armed robbery against any individual or group. ESN has never left its mandate which is to defend Biafra land against Fulani terrorists and killer herdsmen.

    “All banks in Biafraland must be wary of DSS because it is possible they are planning to sponsor attacks on banks and turn around as usual to blame it on IPOB and ESN operatives.

    “The double-faced Nigerian security agencies have been staging this kind of attacks in so many places and later point accusing fingers at IPOB and ESN.

    “They have tried to blame the attacks on security formations in South East on us but now it is obvious that we are innocent of that, they have quickly changed tact in their desperation to blackmail us and find cheap excuse to declare another special military operation in the zone. Our people should be smart and not buy into their tricks.

    “We are waiting for any group of armed robbers who would attempt to attack any bank in Biafraland in attempt to tarnish the reputation of IPOB and ESN. Such band of criminals and their sponsors will regret their action.

    “We assure every resident and institution including banks in Biafra land of their safety. We will help resist these criminals the DSS is arranging to attack banks in the name of ESN and IPOB.”

  • Minister wades in as banks disconnect telco, customers from accessing USSD services, banking apps

    Minister wades in as banks disconnect telco, customers from accessing USSD services, banking apps

    Nigerians on Friday complained bitterly of their inability to use the the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and banking apps.

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG observed that the complaints were more severe amongst MTN customers. They were unable to recharge their lines, do banking transactions on their MTN lines using USSD and the bank apps.

    As expected some Nigerians did not find the development easy and commented on it bitterly on their social media platforms:

    Meanwhile, a source in MTN who spoke with The Punch Newspaper said the telecommunications giant was not responsible for the disruptive services.

    He said, “Please note that MTN didn’t cut off customers and has no hand in this. This is strictly the banks acting on their own.

    “We woke up this morning to see that MTN customers were cut off from USSD services overnight. This has come as a surprise as there was no formal communication from the banks to their customers prior to their taking this action.

    The source disclosed that MTN had reduced the banks’ commission from an average of 3.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent which predicated the actions of the banks.

    According to the source, the reduction is standard because the volumes compensate for the reduction, adding that the contract with convenience channel partners and aggregators through which they were indirectly connected to the banks allowed this.

    The source said, “The banks wrote back to the aggregators to revert back to the old commission, otherwise, they would block MTN airtime in all their channels.

    “The channels were blocked midnight leaving our customers stranded. Interesting that the bank Managing Directors met and quickly took a decision. Subscribers to telecommunications are being denied services by the banks even when they have money in their accounts.”

    He noted that Zenith bank, which was connected directly to MTN and had their earnings at 2.70 per cent, was the only bank that had not blocked the telco.

    However, banks on MOD that had an uplift in their commission from 2.0 per cent to 2.75 per cent have blocked services, according to him. Banks with direct connection to the telco through MOD got a commission uplift.

    According to the source, the banks were unwilling to pay the cost of the USSD channel and were okay with cutting off subscribers in order to protect their profits.

    He added, “This only has to do with preservation of bank profits, which are already substantial and growing despite the wider economic conditions

    “The government needs to step in and deal with this once and for all. Nigerian banks need to stop their tyrannical posture.”

    Minister wades in

    Sensing the danger ahead, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami held a meeting with the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Executive Vice Chairman of Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) stating that the issues will be resolved soon and services restored.

  • FCTA issues seven-day ultimatum to banks to vacate Maitama

    FCTA issues seven-day ultimatum to banks to vacate Maitama

    The FCT Administration has issued a seven-day ultimatum to banks and other business organiations operating in Maitama area, Abuja to vacate and relocate to the Central Business District or risk being sealed up.

    The Acting Director, Department of Development Control, Mr Garba Kwamkur, gave the warning when the department visited the popular Gana Street in Maitama on Tuesday.

    Kwamkur explained that the objective of the visit was to sensitise business operators on the need to revert all the banks and other commercial hubs to their original allocated locations.

    “The department had a week ago served notification to all the buildings that have been converted to commercial use to revert them to the residential purposes but they failed to comply,” he said.

    Kwamkur directed the banks and other business organisations to relocate to Central Business District or Idu Industrial Estate which the FCT master plan provided for.

    The acting director warned that their business premises would be sealed off at the expiration of the seven days ultimatum.

    Meanwhile, Kwamkur, revealed that over 200 hectares of land in the Federal Capital City had been encroached by illegal land grabbers raising unapproved structures around the Lugbe District.

    According to him, over 150 criminals have encroached into areas meant for public facilities in the Sabon-Luge area of the district.

    “As you are aware the FCT Administration has pronounced that Lugbe will be incorporated into the Federal Capital City proper.

    “So the plan is being incorporated to have the same kind of infrastructure as those in the city.

    “This area was planned for public facilities such as schools, markets, hospitals, and other public utilities.

    “But land grabbers have now encroached into the area and captured all the plots meant for public facilities and are developing them as housing estates.

    “Thereby denying space for the necessary amenities that will be needed for the district in the future,” he said.

    Kwamkur added that the department would forward the list of suspected offenders to the FCT Police commissioner to track and prosecute them as specified by the law.

  • USSD CODE, CBN, Banks, Telcos and the coming of anarchy – Okoh Aihe

    USSD CODE, CBN, Banks, Telcos and the coming of anarchy – Okoh Aihe

    By Okoh Aihe

    I do not like the word, anarchy. The word serves a full dose of what is happening in our land, a chaotic state of disorderliness where nobody seems to be in charge, where everybody seems to smell imminent perdition and yet unable to do something about it.

    Where students disappear at school and bus load of passengers spirited into the bush only for the degenerates to be approached by men of means and power for peace and ransom negotiations. This kind of anarchy confers too much confidence on the malevolent as the state gets progressively helpless.

    The unfortunate thing about anarchy is that it percolates, like some water on the rooftop and begin to sip downwards for destructive effects. Some anarchies take time to package, garnished by the inefficiency of governments and would also take some time to resolve, that is, if the state survives and lives to tell the story!

    I do not like the word, anarchy. That is why I do not like what the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is doing; taking advantage of its overwhelming autonomy to create chaos in the financial sector, and in the process take along other supposedly independent organizations in a foolhardy journey to disaster.
    Oh, speaking in tongues of irony? How can the CBN, charged with the health of the financial sector and economy be the one to take it down? I am never one to comment on the imperfections of the current administration of the CBN as every one of us will have our place in the history books where we are judged for healthy posterity or be damned forever.

    Just for the banks to know, something will have to give if they don’t pay the renewal fee of N10m for the USSD which they were getting free. A punishing punch for voracious greed in pursuit of profit!

    Now, let’s quit speaking in tongues and return to the topic full blast. USSD may not make so much sense to the ordinary folks out there. Full meaning is Unstructured Supplementary Service Data. USSD is a communications protocol used by the GSM cellular telephone to perform real-time communication with the mobile network. Due to the real-time feature and responsiveness, it has enabled value added services (VAS) to be integrated to the legacy service being provided by the mobile network operators.

    An expert listed the benefits of USSD as follows: USSD works with all GSM standard mobile phones, including the feature phones. This will enable wider accessibility and utilization of services deployed on the USSD bearer; USSD does not depend on data or internet to operate and it is easily accessible anytime and anywhere; USSD can be assessed when roaming; USSD enables real-time transactions as well as being friendly, as it only prompts the user to select from the pre-defined intuitive menu. This makes it easier and more interactive for businesses to deploy and engage their customers.

    The interactive nature of USSD has encouraged other sectors outside telecommunications to converge their services seamlessly with telecommunications for wider reach. The large patronage of USSD services has created more streams for the operators and government, as well as providing a high level service satisfaction to the end users. Thus, all stakeholders benefit.

    All stakeholders benefit is now a wishful expectation. This is where anarchy may unleash shortly. Let me help you with a little story. By way of supporting the financial inclusiveness policy of the current administration, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) who is the regulator of the telecommunications industry, the CBN and the Mobile operators came up with an understanding to help the banks take services to even remote, unbanked environments. NCC gave the banks USSD free of charge. This will enable banks carry out all kinds of transactions which are powered by the mobile operators.

    With very little modesty, it is important to point out here that without the mobile operators in Nigeria, financial inclusiveness would be a mirage; mobile money and other online financial transactions would be a myth, and our dear country would make her way back to the Stone Age or much closer, the days of trade by barter. But the sticky point here is, who pays the mobile operators for the use of their platforms?

    Recall that in August last year, the NCC was forced to revise a Determination on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) pricing published on July 23, 2019 which allowed mobile operators to charge subscribers for USSD services. The Determination was overruled by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Pantami, who argued but very reasonably, that “USSD is a service to banks and not to the Telecom Consumers, and as such, banks should see themselves as corporate customers of telecom operators with a duty to pay for using the telecom network and infrastructure, including USSD channels extended to them for service delivery to their customers.”

    Even when the Minister was pilloried for such a brazen intrusion into the regulatory terrain of the NCC, his action favoured the people who were spared such extraneous charges on services for which some other parties were already making a killing profit.

    Since then however, nobody has made any payment for USSD services. And the debts are piling up.

    The CBN in a cultured haughtiness is holding meetings with the mobile operators without recourse to the NCC. The banks in their characteristic arrogance are refusing to make any payment on debts running into hundreds of billions. And wait for this: for each USSD service, the banks charge between N53 and N70 but they are refusing to pay just over N1 to the platform owners.

    This writer gathered over the weekend that all parties are close to the panic button. The NCC is coming up with documentations to compel the banks to pay up their debt.

    Should they refuse to pay within an acceptable window, the operators will be permitted to unplug the banks from their platforms. Then anarchy will be let loose on the financial sector and the crowd will return to the banking halls in addition to the trauma of COVID-19.

    Just for the banks to know, something will have to give if they don’t pay the renewal fee of N10m for the USSD which they were getting free. A punishing punch for voracious greed in pursuit of profit!
    Okoh Aihe writes from Abuja.

  • Banks turning female marketers to harlots, sexual slaves – Senator

    Banks turning female marketers to harlots, sexual slaves – Senator

    The Senate, on Thursday discussed a bill seeking to stop employers in the private and public sectors from engaging employable Nigerian graduates as casual workers.

    The Prohibition of Casualisation Bill 2020 was sponsored by Senator Ayo Akinyelure.

    Akinyelure noted that casualisation of Nigerian graduates in the Nigerian labour market had become a subject of great concern.

    He said more workers continued to lament under this immoral strategy of cutting cost by employers rendering them inferior to their counterpart in other countries of the world.

     

    He said, “Statistics from the Nigeria Labour Congress shows that many workers in the telecommunications, oil and gas sectors are engaged as casual labourers by employers of labours.

    “Other sectors with thousands of casual labourers include mining, steel, banking and insurance.”

    Akinyelure while citing the banking industry as a hub for casualisation, blamed banks for turning female marketers into prostitutes and sexual slaves in a dire attempt by them to keep their jobs and meet unrealistic deposit targets.

    He said, ‘In the banking and insurance industry, for instance, many young graduates particularly females are employed as marketers and given unrealistic customer deposit targets running into millions.

    “They are hired and fired at will when unrealistic targets are not met.

    “The female among them who are desperate in keeping their jobs turn to harlotry and sex slavery.

    “They, move from one office to the other looking for invisible customers who have large funds to enable them meet their targets.

    “It is high time this evil and devilish act is stopped.”

    Senator Biodun Olujimi added, “Our girls have been turned into what we cannot imagine.

    “Most of them have been asked to look for funds, and when they come to us, I always tell them, I do not even have the funds to eat; how can I have funds to keep with you in the bank?

    “They will never be promoted if they don’t bring in such funds, and this is a banking industry that is privately owned, yes, but has made so much profit, and from the profit they could at least take the few that they can manage properly, rather than take a lot that they will be giving pittance.”

    The lawmaker emphasized on the need to have a legal framework to ensure that casualisation did not exist.

    The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, in his statement urged the Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity to strike a balance in the bill to ensure that casual workers in the country were not made victims of layoffs.

     

  • CBN directs banks, others, to accept travel documents, refugee ID card for identification

    CBN directs banks, others, to accept travel documents, refugee ID card for identification

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed commercial banks and other financial institutions to, henceforth, accept Machine Readable Travel Documents (MRCTD) and Refugee Identification Card, as means of identification for financial transactions.

    The directive was given by Dr Kevin Amugo, Director, Finance Policy Regulation Department, on Wednesday, in Abuja, through a memo to the banks, other financial institutions and payment service providers in the country.

    Amugo said that the directive was necessitated by the challenges which refugees and asylum seekers experience, with means of identification, when they engaged in financial transactions.

    He also urged the banks to improve on due diligence in all transactions, so as to forestall money laundering and other criminal activities depending on the banking system.

    “All banks and financial institutions are referred to the provisions of the CBN AML/CFT Regulations 2013 (as amended) on customer due diligence.

    “They should note that MRCTD issued by the Nigeria Immigration Services; and the Refugee Identity Card issued by the National Commission for Refugee, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, are adequate means of identification for banking transactions.

    “Banks and other financial institutions are also required to continue to ensure that effective customer due diligence policies and procedures are implemented to combat money laundering, financing of terrorists, as well as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” Amugo said.