Implementation of service charges of the cash-less policy on deposits and withdrawals above N500, 000 and N3m for individual accounts and corporate accounts respectively as planned by the Central Bank of Nigeria, begins on Monday (today) in Lagos State.

The CBN had announced that effective from April 1, 2012, daily cumulative withdrawals and lodgements in banks by individuals would be limited to a maximum of N500, 000. The apex bank also pegged the daily cumulative withdrawals and lodgments by corporate customers at N3m effective from the same date.

The CBN pointed out that individuals and corporate organisations that flout the limits would be charged penalty fees ranging from two per cent to five per cent on the transactions above the limit.

The Deputy Governor, Operations, Mr. Tunde Lemo, had said, “If it is withdrawal, for individuals it will be three per cent above the N500,000 threshold and for corporate bodies, it will be five per cent above the N3m threshold. And for cash deposit, it would be two per cent if an individual is depositing above N500,000 and three per cent if corporate bodies are depositing above N3m.”

Lemo, however, said that the penalty fees would be reviewed every six months, adding that the pilot programme in Lagos State had now been extended to December 31, 2012 in order to allow people to be more conversant with the new initiative. As such, the roll-out of the programme in other states of the Federation has been deferred to January 1, 2013.

In May, 2011, the CBN announced the new policy statement pegging deposit and withdrawal of money by bank customers at N150, 000 per transaction for individual and N1m for corporate body in a day.

This was greeted with mixed reactions as some Lagos residents and different pressure groups called on the apex bank to cancel the policy, while some experts were of the opinion that the policy should be retained.

The experts, however, said that the apex bank should provide good infrastructure and platform for the policy to work.

The Managing Director,Sotice Investment Company Limited, Mr. Adedayo Toluwase, said, “The initiative is a good one for the economy but there’s a lot of work to be done. There is need to strengthen the other channels that will be substitutes for carrying cash, without that, then the policy will continue to attract criticism. But on a general note, it will develop our payment system. I see people using their phones, PoS to transact more than 90 per cent of their daily transactions in the next six months.”

Source: Punch/Ademola Alawiye