The
Bankers Committee has said Deposit Money Banks in the country have
agreed to reduce all bank charges in order to enhance financial
inclusion.
As a first step, the committee has
already endorsed the downward review of the Commission on Turnover
charged current account holders from N5 on every N1,000 withdrawn to N3.
The approval of the reduction was
announced after the committee’s meeting, which was held at the
headquarters of the Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday in Abuja.
The meeting, which lasted for about five
hours, was attended by the CBN Governor, Mr. Lamido Sanusi; top
executives of Deposit Money Banks as well as other senior officials of
the CBN.
The Director, Banking Supervision, CBN, Mrs. Tokunbo Martins, addressed journalists on the outcome of the meeting.
She was accompanied by the Managing
Directors, Access Bank Plc, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede; Zenith Bank Plc,
Mr. Godwin Emefiele; Stanbic IBTC, Mr. Yinka Sanni; and Director,
Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Ugochukwu Okoroafor.
Aig-Imoukhuede said working with the
CBN; the committee was working on unveiling soon the guidelines for the
review of other bank charges.
He said the reduction became imperative
since many people now used banking services owing to the financial
inclusion strategy of the CBN.
He said, “With financial inclusion, more
and more people are using bank services and, therefore, more and more
people are becoming used to the concept of bank charges and so on, which
hitherto perhaps, did not use this service.
“So, working with the central bank, we
are also going to come up with a new guide, but of course; bank charges
cannot stop, especially when you are providing value, but they will come
down.
“One of them, for example, is that in
2013, we are going to move from N5 per mill to N3 per mill on Commission
on Turnover, and gradually that will continue to reduce.”
Aig-Imoukhuede said the economy had begun to feel the benefits of the shared services initiative of the DMBs.
For instance, he said that in terms of
earnings, total operating income of Nigerian banks decreased from N1.6tn
in 2011 to N1.4tn in 2012.
He also said the total operating expenses for the industry fell from N1.6tn to N1tn within the same period.
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