ATM Machines: N100 ATM service charge may come back

Nigerian commercial banks wants the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to restore the N100 ATM service fee which it earlier suspended in a bid to reduce the financial burden on customers.

Before the suspension, bank customers were made to pay N100 ATM for any cash withdrawal from a machine belonging to another bank.

Speaking to the New Telegraph, the Chief Executive Officer, Automated Information Services Ltd, Dr. Bowo Olateru-Olagbegi, disclosed that the new CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, was under intense pressure to restore the charge suspended by his predecessor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, to enable them to deploy more machines. “The N100 ATM service charge is coming back” he said.

 “CBN is the regulator and when it gives a directive, you obey first and then complain and lobby. That’s what the banks are doing, especially now that the new CBN governor has a banking background and understands their plight.

“If they don’t generate income from the ATM, they will get it from other charges, such as excess COT. “Top banks are mounting pressure on the CBN to reserve it. Their argument is that the N100 was a bit convenient for customers to pay than joining a long queue in the banking halls”

CBN’s Consumer Protection Department, however told the newspaper via an email that the it was not aware of such a plan. “Such information does not exist in this department, and since it is not contained in any circular within this section, it didn’t emanate from the Consumer Protection Department,” the email said.