The apex bank announced the commencement of the test phase of the cashless initiative with Lagos being the major commercial nerve centre of the nation in January 2012. This was scheduled to last for a period of three months with full implementation commencing in March 2012 for Lagos and the test phase in Abuja and other states. It was however reviewed and given an additional extension of about three months with sanctions taking effect from 1st of June 2012.
The policy was aimed at reducing the volume of cash by all and sundry, eliminating or reducing the amount of money laundered therefore nipping financial misappropriation in the bud, increasing the efficiency of banking operations by reducing the time spent on consummating transactions, improve on the safety and ease with which people access funds in their account, reduce and possibly eradicate tax evasion.
Others include, to drive the development and modernization of payment system in line with vision 2020 and to improve the effectiveness of monetary policy in managing inflation and driving economic growth.
These restricted individuals to a daily cash withdrawal/deposit limit of N500,000.00 and N3,000,000.00 as the approved daily deposit/withdrawal limit for corporate account holders above which charges would apply.
A processing fee of two percent applies to individuals who exceed the approved daily deposit limit and three percent for exceeding the stated withdrawal limit. For their counterparts who maintain a corporate account, a processing fee of three percent and five percent applies for going beyond the approved daily deposit and withdrawal limit respectively.
Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the federal and state governments were among the bodies made to enjoy exemption on the accounts operated by them solely for the purpose of revenue collection.
Sadly, this development has had an adverse effect on third party transactions as the value of certain transactions can no longer be paid off at once, as issuing a single cheque in situations where the amount would exceed the approved limit. Initially, customers did not find the initiative friendly as those who depended heavily on cash and cheques for payment had to wait for longer days before the cumulative value accrued, a good amount of money was also lost to charges where caution is not taken.
All commercial banks were therefore saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that all their e-banking channels were up to par with the needs of the varying categories of their clients. To this extent, it became imperative for all existing e-channels to be up and running at all times. This includes the ATM, Mobile Banking, Internet Banking, POS, Mobile Money, etc.
For banks lagging behind in some of these e-banking technologies, the initiative presented itself as an opportunity to improve on the types and quality of services that were already made available by the trailblazers in the industry. Most of these applications now allow for local and foreign funds transfer, bill and utility payments, Top up, cheque pre-confirmation to mention a few.
Small and medium scale entrepreneurs (SMEs) became the main target market for POS machines, with the issuing banks willing to deploy the device, and educate their clients about its use.
Reluctantly, more Nigerians have embrace the debit card technology as access to funds in one’s account for more services are now available via most ATMs apart from the enquiry and cash withdrawal it was once popular for as well as different online payment platforms.
Despite the advancement in the alternatives so far provided by financial institutions, service providers, product manufacturers and online trading firms, customers remain cynical about many of these solutions. Many are gripped by the fear of losing their funds to fraudsters who may gain unauthorised access to their account through the use of their debit cards for transactions on these channels. Some support their position with the reluctance and time taken by their banks to resolve their dispense error issues over the ATM with some claims unaccepted. They state that the disclaimers boldly displayed on most banks mobile and internet banking sites provide an easy way out for the bank to avoid liability or responsibility should anything go wrong.
Rather than receive the POS terminals as a welcome development to improve the face of their business and increase sales by virtue of the indulgence of impulse spending which transacting with debit/credit cards permit, merchants perceive it as an imposition on them by their banks whose officials are quick to state the charges that would accrue to the bank from its use rather than its benefits to the merchant. A good number of these terminals when deployed are left idle and unused because the imposed charges by banks often exceed the set limit by CBN and rip these merchants of the meagre profits they make from sales.
Commercial banks in Nigeria now have targets set at increasing the number of customers they have signed up on their various e-banking platforms. Some have departments or desks set up solely for this purpose. Aggressively, the members of staff saddled with this responsibility launch out to meet up with the task set before them but record a less encouraging success.
