The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ATM

  • Why the rich don’t use ATM

    Visa International has carried out a survey showing that high net worth account holders do not own or use Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards. The study revealed that the higher people earn, the less they own and use their debit cards. This, it attributed to possibility of online fraud as majority of the rich think that avoiding debit cards is the way to stay protected.

    The report revealed that people who earn below N500,000 per annum, which form 47 per cent of its respondents, own and are regular users of debit cards. It also showed that majority of Nigerians in urban centers have bank accounts with 99 per cent of respondents claiming ownership of bank account(s).

    However, less than a quarter of the public have both savings and current accounts. Seven per cent of the respondents own a current account while over 70 per cent have savings accounts.

    Over half of the respondents sampled claimed that having multiple accounts is not a function of how much one earns but mostly for different savings plan. Less than one fifth have multiple accounts because of the poor banking services of their previous banks. Only 16 per cent of respondents have multiple bank accounts due to pressure from banks marketing officers.

    It said people that earn less than 500,000 per annum have the habit of opening multiple accounts.

    “General knowledge and awareness of debit card is high in Nigeria but its usage is not commensurate. The majority of the respondents knew that ATM card is also a debit card. Basically, people with higher level of education have a better understanding of what a debit card is. People within the 18 – 45 years of age are the largest card holders in the country, they are active and more knowledgeable ones,” it said.

    The study revealed that over half of Nigerian debit cardholders have only one debit card while 34 per cent have more than one. Of the cardholders with multiple debit cards, over three quarter claimed that two or all the cards are active. Majority of Nigerians with multiple debit cards stated that this is because of their multiple accounts. Only four per cent have multiple cards because of the unreliability of the previous card they used.

    On card usage, the report said three out of four Nigerians use their cards for both cash withdrawals and checking of account balances. The percentage of Nigerians that use their cards at Point of Sale (PoS), for online purchase is still very low.

    “It said Nigerians in the Southeast make cash withdrawals with their cards more than other parts of the country. While Nigerians in Northeast make the least withdrawals with their cards. Nigerians in the Northcentral region are the highest when it comes to checking their account balances with their debit cards in the country while people in Southwest like to shop online with their cards. They constitute the highest percentage of online shoppers. On the contrary, people in the Southeast are more cash-based, therefore, they rarely use their cards for online purchase,” it said.

    This study also revealed that the more Nigerians earn, the less they use their cards for online purchase. The group of people that earns less than N500,000 per annum use their cards more for online purchase.

    It said the knowledge of Point of Sale (PoS) among Nigerians is slightly above average while people within the ages of 18 to 45 know more about the product than people outside this age bracket. Also, seven out of 10 Nigerians are yet to use their debit cards at the PoS terminals.

    The research also showed that 29 per cent of Nigerians have prefer cards when they want to pay for large quantity of goods and services while 22 per cent would use their cards for spontaneous buying. Less than a quarter would use their cards for online purchases.

  • Mainstreet Bank and my ATM woes

    Mainstreet Bank and my ATM woes

    SIR: I attempted to withdraw the sum of 40,000 naira from Diamond Bank branch Ikorodu on November 20, 2012. Only N20,000 was released while N40000 was debited into my account Acct no 5002599647.I traveled out of the country, came back in January after which I complained verbally, and filled three dispute forms at my branch, Ojuelegba and also Ikorodu and Calabar branches. Till date, nothing has been done.

    I got the highest insult when I was told in my branch that it was confirmed I withdrew the money. I have written my branch manager and copied the managing director without any response. The so-called customer care hotline 014622706 was never picked after several attempts. This is a 21-year old account and it amazes me that the bank could be irresponsibly silent on this issue.

    It goes beyond the amount involved. I am, by his grace, not a pauper and wouldn’t lose sleep over this amount. I will advise the bank to pay the money back into my account immediately or at least, prove that I withdrew the money. I have had enough of this irresponsibility. Even with that, they have already lost a customer!

    • Olusegun Akintunde Ige

    Lagos

     

  • Pain, anguish at ATM

    When most banks across the world deem it wise to introduce the use of automated machine teller, otherwise known as ATM, most people welcomed the noble idea of fast withdrawal of money without hitches.

    Nigeria did key into such high technology to bring the country at the same pedestal with other countries using the ATM.

    Nigerians also welcomed the use of the ATM to enable them have easy way of money collection as the case worldwide, but the case has been of pain and anguish before collection of money for some time now.

    When Nigerians approach most of this machines to withdraw money, it’s always one form of disappointment or the other, sometime :unable to dispense cash or network problems. This has to stop to enable Nigerian feel the impact of easy way of collect money.

    Formerly, Nigerians always experienced hardship buying petroleum products before they embarked on holidays to see their loved ones during any festivities, but the case now is spending most of their times at ATM machines to secure money to meet family needs in their various homes.

    If urgent steps are not taken, the much talked about cashless policy of the Central Bank would be a mirage, with the way most of the ATM machines are not properly being maintained for the benefit of their customers.

    The Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive of stopping the charge of one hundred naira for interbank withdrawal has gone a long way to bringing relief to many customers, whose joy is now being hampered with most of the ATMs not dispensing cash to their customers

    Equally, the Central Bbank of Nigeria should as matter of urgency direct all commercial banks to update their ATM machines to ameliorate the sufferings of bank customers.

    We hope those banks whose ATM machines have not been functioning would overhaul them for the good of the customers transacting business with them.

    By Bala Nayashi,

    Lokoja, Kogi State.

  • CBN awaits National Assembly to invest N3b ‘idle’ cash

    CBN awaits National Assembly to invest N3b ‘idle’ cash

    • No sanction for erring banks on ATM fee waiver

    The Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) is awaiting the National Assembly’s passing of the Securitisation Bill to enable it invest the N3 billion idle funds in treasury bills (TBs), found during the mopping up of funds to reduce inflation.

    Its Director of Communication, Mr Ugo Okoroafor said CBN is pursuing the law’s enactment to avail itself of opportunities in the asset securitisation investment window.

    He also said CBN won’t sanction banks that disobeyed the Banker Committee’s directive to waive the N100 inter-bank Automated Teller Machine (ATM) charge.

    Okoroafor told reporters in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State that the TBs were lying fallow because CBN cannot move them to other sectors of the economy. He said the idle funds could be invested in government- backed securities to enhance economic growth.

    Okoroafor said: “About N3 billion is lying fallow in the treasury bills end of the fixed-income securities market. If the money is released, it can serve investment purposes. That is why CBN is pursuing Securitisation Act in the National Assembly to enable it to invest the money in securitised assets like mortgages.”

    According to him, the reforms have recorded some achievements as evident by the changes in the banking.

    He said the industry is stabilised, stronger, robust and growth performance-oriented, noting that the establishment of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has helped in cleaning up the bad debts of banks.

    The reforms, he said, resulted in the introduction of financial literacy programme, establishment of consumer protection unit, among other initiatives capable of increasing accessibility to banking.

    He said the CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, at the last Monetary Policy Meeting, insisted that attention must be given to collation of data on various aspects of the economy.

    “Sanusi insisted that we should be getting data as at when due from the National Bureau of Statistics to encourage economic growth. When data are made available, it would assist in planning for the economy,” he said.

    The essence of having a regular data, he said, is to keep a close tab on the economy, and further benchmark it against international standards.

    He said the country’s foreign reserves are good enough, arguing that the $75 oil benchmark was arrived at to prevent Nigeria from consuming everything at its disposal at once.

    The CBN’s spokesman said infrastructure is one of the major problems in the industry, adding that banks could not lend because of infrastructural challenge, adding that another is identity, a problem which has affected the capacity of banks to lend.

    Okoroafor said CBN won’t enforce the N100 ATM charge waiver because it was the banks that agreed to stop the fee, adding that the regulator would continue to encourage and advise the banks on the need for compliance.

    The Nation’s findings showed that many of the banks are still charging customers the fee.

    The CBN’s position contrasts that of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Commission (NDIC), which earlier warned that commercial banks that violate the policy would be sanctioned.

  • Banks stop N100 ATM charges

    Banks stop N100 ATM charges

    Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) have agreed to wave the N100 charge imposed on Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transactions across banks, the Group Managing Director of FirstBank, Bisi Onasanya, has said.

    Onasanya, who spoke at the end of the Bankers’ Committee’s Meeting in Abuja, yesterday, said the lenders have decided to stop charges for use of ATMs.

    He said: “At present when you use the ATM of a bank other than your own bank, there is a charge of N100, which is borne by the account holder. We have decided that we will work out the modalities and ensure that with immediate effect, we would pass on the cost to the respective banks, which would bear the cost of this service. No matter where you are drawing your money from, you would not be subjected to any charge for using the ATMs”.

    He explained “this does not cover withdrawals from inside the banking halls. For customers of FirstBank to use the ATM of GTBank is free; you no longer have to bear any cost,” he said.

    Onasanya said the banks have been directed to go back to the drawing board and take a decision as to how this cost will be borne by them. He said: “We need to understand that these services have some inherent costs. What we have just decided is that banks will no longer be passing this cost to their customers.

    “What we need to do now is work out the modalities, and it should be in a very short period of time because we are all committed to it and it was a unanimous decision of the bankers committee.” He added that the decision to stop charging customers for using ATMs, borders on the need for banks to follow the global trend.

    He said in some parts of the world, when you use your card on most of the ATM networks, you don’t have a charge, stating that although there were costs involved in doing this, the Bankers’ Committee agreed “to give back to the society some form of what we benefited from the system”.

    The lenders he said that felt that since they are doing well, they need to encourage the rest of the community to be part of the success story. So we felt that we should be able to bear the cost as a way of cushioning the impact of whatever the situation is in the economy today,” he added.

    The burden of this decision and the cost implication that the banks are carrying he lamented “are not low but as responsible corporate citizens we do not want to pass this cost on to the public, we will bear the cost,” he said.

     

     

     

  • Banks breaching ATM rules

    Banks breaching ATM rules

    Banks are yet to comply with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive that all Automated Teller Machine (ATM) related complaints should be resolved within 72 hours.

    The Nation investigations showed that it still takes many banks about a month to resolve simple complaints, such as non-dispensal of cash, debit without payment, card trapping or repair of non-functional machines. The banks are also not abiding by global best practices that require them to specify and inform customers about machines that need repairs, or those out of use.

    This breach is likely to be sanctioned by the CBN.

    A customer of one of the banks, Chukwudi Okafor, who is yet to have his N40,000 refunded after the ATM debited him without dispensing the cash, said he has written several letters to the bank, completed the complaint forms for almost a month, but nothing has been done.

    He said the challenge of delayed resolution of ATM complaints may affect customers’ perception on use of other e-payment channels, such as Point of Sale (PoS), among others.

    Okafor said the problem would have been averted if there was a notice on the machine, informing customers that it was faulty.

    “In many cases, customers get into problems because banks fail to properly inform them about the working condition of ATMs at a given time. I doubt if any customer will attempt using a machine that is faulty knowing the implications,” he said.

    Another customer, Abiodun Ogundipe, whose card was trapped in one of the ATMs, said he had problems getting the bank to reissue a new one, adding that after paying N1,000 to replace the card, nothing has been done in the last one month.

    Investigation showed that although many banks advise customers to complete forms to guide them in resolving such complaints, such resolution, if at all, takes about a month or more.

    The apex bank had earlier warned banks to resolve complaints from ATMs within 72 hours. “The CBN circular said: Failure to respond to the customer or the CBN on ATM complaints within 72 hours will attract a fine of N50,000 per day for each complaint after the 72 hours until the response is received, while failure to resolve any ATM dispute with evidence of resolution within 14 days, the operator will refund the total money involved in the fraud.

    “All cardholders’ complaints are to be treated within a maximum of 72 hours from the date of receipt of the complaints. Networks used for transmission of ATM transactions must be demonstrated to have data confidentiality and integrity. Where the user of the ATM blocks his image for camera capture, the ATM should be able to abort the transaction.”

    The regulator also said operators that fail to establish help desks contacts, or non functional help desk contacts will attract a fine of N50,000 for each day of infraction, while failing to disclose ATM surcharge to customers, the CBN will enforce a refund of the surcharge.

    The CBN added that other non-monetary sanctions that could be applied for these infractions include naming the offenders at the Bankers’ Committee Forum, suspension of offenders from participating in clearing operations until the infraction is corrected, in addition to suspending offenders from participating in Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) operations until the infraction is corrected.

    Also, the CBN directed that the helpdesk contacts are to be adequately displayed at the ATM terminals, while all surcharges are to be fully disclosed to customers. The new rule also stipulates that there must be availability of cash in ATMs at all times.

    “The funding and operation of the ATM deployed by non-bank institutions should be the sole responsibility of the bank or institutions that entered into agreement with them for cash provisioning. Every ATM is expected by this arrangement to have cameras that will view and record all persons using the machines and every activity at the ATM like card insertion, Personal Identification Number (PIN) entry, transaction selection, cash withdrawal and card taking, among others.

    Also, regulatory monitoring stipulates that any institution which operates ATM should file an updated list of such machines, including the details of location of their addresses with Banking and Payment Systems Department of the CBN for compliance monitoring. The apex bank is expected to conduct onsite checking of such machines, with a view to ensuring compliance with cash and service availability at the ATMs.

    On penalties to defaulters, the new CBN guidelines stipulate sanctions in the form of monitory penalties, or suspension of the acquiring /processing services or both will be imposed on such erring institutions for failure to comply with any of the provisions.

    Analysts insist that there is little or no implementation of these rules by the apex bank which would have improved ATM usage and confidence in the country.

  • Banks raise daily ATM withdrawal limit

    Banks raise daily ATM withdrawal limit

    Some banks have increased the limit of cash withdrawals from their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) from N100,000 to N150,000 daily, The Nation has learnt. Their action may not be unconnected with the confidence gained on sucurity of the platform.

    Diamond Bank informed its customers that it has increased the withdrawal limit, but did not give reasons for its action. Findings showed that other banks, including GTBank and United Bank for Africa (UBA) and implement the new benchmark, sometimes on request.

    Many bank customers welcomed the move, saying it would not only save them time from visiting ATMs’ frequently, but also reduce the commission they pay for cash withdrawals, which is tied to the number of transactions. Some said they believed that banks should set even higher withdrawal limits.

    A customer, Michael Obinna, said the increased limit gives him more opportunity not to queue in banking halls trying to withdraw huge cash, adding that banks can actually raise the limits further, as security of the device is improving.

    Another customer, Biodun Aremu, said ATM has reduced the cost of banking operations, urging banks to drop the N100 charge by some banks on other lenders’ cards. He said deducting excessive charges on use of ATMs diminishes the gains of the device.

    Findings showed that the action, became exigent after the introduction of chip and pin payment cards which drastically reduced fraud in electronic payments. The cards, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said, have led to 99 per cent drop in ATM card related fraud.

    The CBN said it has assisted in the building secured technology that makes it difficult for fraudsters to hack into customers’ transactions, especially with the migration to EMV (Europay, MasterCard and VISA) which are more secured platform needed to prevent frauds.

    Its Deputy Governor, Operations, Tunde Lemo, who spoke on the sideline at a seminar organised by the Committee of E-Banking Industry Heads (CeBIH) in Lagos, said the bank and other relevant institutions have been able to reduce card fraud drastically.

    “The ATM Fraud Prevention Group convened earlier this year, has successfully driven down ATM fraud incidences by 99 per cent. It has enabled the introduction of the more secure chip and pin cards, versus the magnetic stripe cards that were formerly used in the industry. The success of this group, has demonstrated practically what can be achieved as an industry when we work together to address issues, for the good of the system and the public at large,” he said.

    ATM, which was introduced into Nigeria in 1989, has changed the face of electronic payment. The first ATM was installed by the National Cash Registers (NCR) that for the defunct Societe Generale Bank Nigeria (SGBN) in 1989. There is hardly any bank that has not adopted today technology because of its cost effectiveness.