The Central Bank of Nigeria said excess charges constituted 50 per cent of customers’ complaints treated by the bank as of May 2014.
The CBN also said it had treated 4,142 fraud-related petitions against banks in the country.
This, it said, resulted in the refund of N14.69bn ($1.1m) to aggrieved customers.
The Director, Consumer Protection Department, CBN, Mr. Umma Dutse, stated this in Lagos at a summit with the theme, ‘Value-based banking: banks and their customers’ organised by the Bank Customers’ Association of Nigeria.
Dutse, who delivered a paper on ‘Banker/customer relationship: expectations and realities,’ said that the total number of petitions recorded was from inception of the office when it was still known as the Financial Policy and Regulation Department in March 2010 to May 2014.
Specifically, he stated that the petitions were generally for issues relating to excess charges, unauthorised deductions, dishonoured cheques, cheque conversion, foreign remittances, and Automated Teller Machine frauds.
The CBN director, however, noted that the excess charges constituted more than half of the petitions the CPD had received and treated within the period.
He listed some of the reasons for the ugly trend to include greed, poor service delivery by banks as well as failure to adhere to the provisions of extant guidelines and agreements.
He explained, “We had received many petitions where banks charged COT in excess of the provisions of the RGBC, or where banks introduced fees that were not initially in the agreement between them and their customers. In these, and similar cases, the banks involved invariably breached the customer’s right to fair treatment.”
“Another reality of the banker/customer relationship is the inadequacy of disclosure by banks to their customers. This is even more pronounced in today’s competitive banking environment where banks churn out different kinds of products and engage in aggressive marketing to enhance their market share.
The President, BCAN, Dr. Uju Ogbunika, said there was the need for banking business to be conducted based on values and best practices.
He explained that banking activities should exceed just promoting and supporting fairness between providers and consumers of banking services, noting that stability, growth and sustainability of the banking system should be the focus.
Punch
