The United States Trade and Development Agency has provided a grant of N80m ($510,000) for the establishment of a Disaster Recovery Centre to fortify and protect e-payment transactions in the country.

The Head Shared Services, CBN, Mr. Chidi Umeano, who made this known in Lagos, said the grant would be used to finance qualified US firm to provide expert consulting services in determining the technical requirements, business and operational models for the project.

He noted that a vendor had been evaluated and selected by the CBN, which had also received a ‘letter of no objection’ from USTDA, adding that the legal unit of the CBN was already drafting contract agreement that would be reviewed and binding on both parties.

According to Umeano, the banking watchdog is also developing modalities or work plan for implementation of shared tier-three Disaster Recovery Centre infrastructure and services.

“The CBN is also setting up IT Standards Board and requisite governance framework to oversee the administration of IT standards in the industry and drive its adoption across the players in the industry. We understand that payment is the key driver of cost distribution in the industry and accounts for almost 60 per cent of the industry cost base,” he said.

Umeano said the CBN was working with the banks to ensure more efficiency in the payment system, adding that cash management constituted almost 80 per cent of bank infrastructure and staff, which directly drove up the cost of banking service.

He said that the CBN having monitored the partial implementation of the cash-less policy and following stakeholders’ engagement on the effective implementation of the project, decided to reassess its parameters to allow for smooth transition and adoption.

For instance, the apex bank has given exemptions to Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the federal and state governments on lodgments for revenue collections only.

According to him, the policy on withdrawal allows individual customer to make a free cumulative withdrawal or deposit of N500, 000 daily across the counters and ATM. Withdrawal above the free limit will attract processing fees of three per cent for every N1, 000 above the limit. Corporate customers are allowed to make free cumulative withdrawal or deposit of N3m daily. Withdrawal above the free limit will attract a processing fee of five per cent for every N1,000 above the limit.

Source: Punch/Ademola Alawiye