The Nation Newspaper

Tag: customers

  • Biometric database for customers takes off in March

    Biometric database for customers takes off in March

    Biometric database for bank customers will be ready by March next year. The project, which is the brainchild of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Bankers’ Committee, is meant to have a central database where all bank customers’ information will be collated and stored. Since biometric identifiers are unique to individuals, they remain reliable in verifying identity of each bank customer.

    According to the CBN, the platform, when completed, would help operators and regulators of the financial system address issues of Know Your Customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML), and access to credit. This will help fast-track use of channels, such as biometric Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, among others.

    The CBN said it is also planning a Consumer Complaints Management System that will make it possible for it to monitor banks’ breaches in customers’ accounts. When completed, the platform will enable the regulator see which customer complaints are being treated, and which are not being considered. The CBN to, with the platform, see the complaints by bank customers and track the turnaround time of their resolution.

    It said the role of consumer protection is not limited to the CBN alone, but remains a collective responsibility of everyone. It said the Consumer Protection Unit of the CBN is mandated to educate consumers and defend their interest, detect money laundering and combat financial terrorism as well as enhance awareness on these issues. The apex bank is also reviewing the framework on consumer protection to ensure that all complaints by customers are promptly addressed.

    Also, where any of the cases is proved, the affected bank will be required to make necessary amends and where financial obligations are involved, will be required to refund the money. The measures are aimed at encouraging good banking habits and promoting efficiency in the delivery of financial services as well as boosting public confidence in the system.

  • Banker arrested for stealing customer’s N4.7m

    A banker, identified as Robert Olusegun, was among the 3,241 suspects arrested by the Kano State Police Command between January and June this year for various criminal offences.

    Police Commissioner Musa Daura addressed reportersn in Kano yesterday on the mid-year scorecard of the command yesterday, where the suspects were paraded.

    He said assorted weapons were recovered from suspects.

    Daura said Robert allegedly conspired with another accomplice, now at large, and attacked a customer of the bank where he worked with a pistol and a knife when the bank’s customer was on his way to deposit the money.

    He said: “They (suspects) robbed him of N4,755,200. The suspects were vigorously pursued by members of the community and Robert was arrested with the money. One revolver pistol loaded with three live ammunitions and a knife were recovered from him. Investigation is on top gear to arrest the fleeing suspect.”

    The police chief said in the last six months, items recovered from robbers include two AK 47 rifles, 60 rounds of live ammunitions, nine locally made pistols, 47 cartridges, huge scissors, cutlasses and house breaking implements.

    He said 52 robbery cases were recorded within the period while recovered stolen property include 30 vehicles (of various brands), 98 GSM handsets, jewelry, pumping machines, electric generators, cable fuses from vandalised Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) installations, among others.

  • CBN recovers N8.6b for bank customers

    CBN recovers N8.6b for bank customers

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has recovered N8.6 billion for cheated bank customers as at the end of this year’s first quarter.

    Speaking to journalists on the activities of the CBN’s Consumer Protection Department in Abuja yesterday, the Director of Consumer Protection, Hajia Umma Dutse, said: “The N6 billion figure that the governor gave was the figure that he had. I think the current figure that I am giving you, since we started — and we have been able to recover N8.6billion. We have been able to recover more than N8.6billion in favour of various consumers.”

    She said: “So far, the department has received and treated over 2800 complaints from consumers against deposit money banks as at the end of first quarter of 2013.”

    Some banks, she said, have been fined N2 million for these infractions.

    This figure “excludes complaints that have to do with ATM and other electronic related complaints and also complaints from other financial institutions, like the micro finance institutions, the primary mortgage institutions; it is just complaints against the deposit money banks.”

    The complaints, Mrs Dutse noted, “are mostly complaints that have to do with excess charges, conversion, fraud and such other complaints.”

    For now the CBN has decided to exclude ATM and other electronic complaints “because those are treated by bank payment department for now but eventually, I know when the structure is approved, the process will come to consumer protection department”.

    She told The Nation that her department had “received complaints against all banks in the country but some banks had more complaints from their customers than others.”

    Mrs. Dutse said “there are various categories of complaints and the length of time for resolution usually depends on the nature and complexity of the complaint”.

    For example, a customer may complain of refusal of his bank to issue him a bank statement while another consumer may complain of excess charges over a long period of time, but our regulation is clear-that financial institutions must resolve all complaints within two weeks of receiving such.”

    Any case that cannot be resolved within two weeks, she explained, “must be referred to the Central Bank – in line with the help desk circular that we issued out to banks, but with the benefit of experience that I mentioned, I can tell you that certain categories of complaints take a longer time to resolve.”

    Complaints that have to do with excess charges, fraud and some that may require legal interpretation take more than a few days to resolve.

    The Consumer Protection amazon who the CBN governor described as “ruthless” in pursuing customer complaints against banks said the CBN was very worried at the incidence of banks cheating customers.

    To check these, she said the CBN “is going to put a very strong monitoring clients team that is going to ensure that the banks do what they are supposed to do and I can assure you with time, the banks will stop all the excess charges.”

    Mrs. Dutse said the CBN and her department in particular “have had course to sanction some banks for breach of regulatory directives.”

    “In addition, the banks are compelled to indicate in their annual financial statements all these breaches, so I don’t think banks would want shareholders to be seeing all the statistics that they are not consumer friendly or this is what they do to their customers.

    Her adivse to Nigerians is that they should be financially literate and understand financial products and services. Nigerians should not “just sign any contract with your bank, try to understand what is there and take advantage of the Central Bank of Nigeria consumer protection initiatives.

     

  • CBN recovers N6b from banks for cheated customers

    CBN recovers N6b from banks for cheated customers

    Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Gover-nor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has said about N6billion lost to banks by customers has been recovered by the apex bank.

    Sanusi spoke yesterday in Abuja at the yearly Isaac Moghalu Foundation (IMOF) Lecture and Symposium, entitled: Women in leadership, the education pipeline.

    He said the feat was recorded by the CBN’s Director of Consumer Protection, Hajia Umma Aminu Dutse, whom he described as “ruthless and hard working”.

    His words: “The director of Consumer Protection has recovered over N6 billion in the last one year for customers that were cheated by banks. She takes sides with banks’ customers. Even when I plead with her to be gentle with the banks, she is very ruthless.”

    Sanusi took a swipe at women at the top of their careers and those with political clout, accusing them of not doing enough for the womenfolk.

    He said: “Not many women help other women and this is really a big problem. So, we need to be careful about just thinking that if you have  a group of people in top management level, things will be different.

    “Ask the women in power what they do for other women who are voiceless, you may be the Minister of Finance or of Housing, many women cannot understand what we are saying here.”

    The CBN helmsman lamented the low literacy level of girls in the North, saying in Jigawa State, for example, girls’ completion rate in school is as low as 7.6 per cent.

    He explained that out of 100 girls, less than eight complete secondary school, adding that 70.8 per cent of girls in the Northwest between 20 and 29 years, cannot read when compared to nine per cent in the West.

    Sanusi wondered how the country can be built when 93 per cent of the girls in the most populous region do not complete secondary school education.

    He criticised female ministers who spend time in government without any tangible proof of their stewardship for the womenfolk. “If you spend four years in the cabinet and you cannot say after four years what you did for women during the period, shame on you!” he declared.

    Sanusi said his deesire is to see more women in positions of authority. “We want many skirts out there, and we want these skirts not to be limited to the top of the board, because for every one woman that makes it up there to the board, there are probably up to 5,000,000 or 10,000,000 women in the villages who don’t have access to education,” he said.

    The CBN governor was also unhappy with the practice of credit processing in the country which he condemned as being “gender biased.”

    According to Sanusi, “if you have a credit process that says you need tangible collateral or landed property in a society where women do not generally hold titles to land, you have already cut them off because men own the land and houses and for you (women) to even approach a bank for a loan is almost impossible.”

    As a result, the CBN, he said, has resorted to forcing “the banks to look at those credit policies and get them to answer, how do you get credit to that group.”

    “It is also wrong to promote men simply because they put in more hours at work whereas women have to go home by 5pm to attend to their families and as result get bypassed for promotion often. They are able to put in these hours simply because they are men.”

    To promote gender balance in the banking sector, Sanusi disclosed it has been “agreed that by 2014, at least 30 per cent of the board seats in banks will be held by women and at least 40 per cent of senior management positions will be held by women.”

    He further stated that “this year we require that all banks’ when they publish their statement of accounts, must publish its gender positions to name and shame, even the Central Bank will not be exempted from this. There is a lot of public pressure on these institutions that fall behind to make them to catch up.”

    In the 50 years of the CBN’s existence “only four women had made it to director level and this was a period when we had 10,000 staff, today we have seven or eight female directors, this comes from a conscious policy of looking for qualified women to take these positions.”

    The foundation’s executive director, Mrs Maryanne Moghalu said the lecture will “examine how far we have come in developing women leaders across Nigeria, why it is important to have women leadership as part of a broad agenda as part of our social and economic agenda, how we can ensure this goal in a sustainable manner by ensuring that women are trained and ready for leadership roles in the public, private and non profit sectors and that they are sent to such roles in their own merits and not just the values of voters.

  • CBN: 50 big customers owe banks N2.39tr

    No fewer than 50 top customers are owing banks N2.39 trillion, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.

    Their debt represents 30 per cent of the N7.87 trillion owed the banks, according to CBN Financial Stability Report for June, last year.

    The report put the banks’total credit at N7.2 trillion at the end of December 2011.

    The report signed by CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido and Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Kingsley Moghalu, said top 100 obligors accounted for 39.1 per cent of the gross credit, indicating a high loan concentration within the banking sector. The ratio of non-performing loans (NPLs) to gross loans declined by 0.6 per cent from 4.9 per cent, but falls within the regulatory threshold of five per cent.

    The ratio decline, the report said, was partly attributable to the sale of N52.85 billion Eligible Bank Assets (EBAs) to the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) by six banks.

    The NPL classified as substandard was N74.81 billion (22.3 per cent), doubtful, N123.44 billion (36 per cent) and lost loans, N141.63 billion (41.7 per cent). The NPL also declined by 5.6 per cent to N339.88 billion from N360.09 billion.

    A further deterioration of earlier classified loans resulted in an increase in loan loss provisions from N202.27 billion to N242.13 billion.

    The CBN said it received 444 petitions, amounting to N1.41 billion from customers, relating to alleged excess charges and other unethical practices. Its intervention resulted in banks refunding N5.76 billion to customers.

    The report said banks are facing current or prospective risk arising from changes in the business environment and adverse decisions. Others are improper implementation of decisions or lack of responsiveness to changes in environment.

    The CBN noted that as the environment changes because of changes in economic and regulatory framework, it is critical that financial institutions manage the risk from their business strategy.

    The report said a stress test conducted at the end of June last year, evaluated the solvency risks in banks’ balance sheets and imbalance in the financial system. The result of the exercise reaffirmed the increasing resilience of the industry to shocks. Comparatively, the results showed slight improvements over the December 2011 position in credit, foreign exchange and interest rate risks; liquidity risks increased marginally.

    The reforms in the sector, CBN said, would address liquidity and exchange rate volatility concerns in the near to medium term. It added that liquidity risks were adjudged significant as the impact of 10 per cent general run on the industry’s liquidity resulted in 815 basis points reduction in liquidity ratio. The results, according to the report, showed that small and medium banks were less vulnerable to liquidity risks than big ones.

     

  • Fidelity Bank rewards customers

    Fidelity Bank Plc has given out five Hyundai Accent cars to five winners in its ongoing Cars and Cash Savings Splash held in Lagos.

    Twenty-one other winners also went home with cash prizes ranging from N100, 000 to N500, 000.

    Some of the customers that won cars are Okororie Daniel Ifediora from the South South region; Godson Chima Eqwuonwu, South East; Mshelia Esther Pinbar, Abuja and North Central;and Ekenechukwu Eze Nnalua, Lagos and South West among other.

    For the cash prizes, Ibrahim Obi Iro won N1 million; Tabitha Allu Anvah, Peters Adaora Jessic and Euse Chidi ,among others won N250,000 each while Abdul Bello, among others won N100,000.

    Speaking during the promo draws, the bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Reginald Ihejiahi said the draw was the second in a series to mark the 25th anniversary of the bank. He said the bank took the decision in order to reward its customers who have been supporting it since it commenced business 25 years ago.

    According to him, the exercise was also meant to deepen the financial inclusion plan of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). “We started to say thank you to our customers since last year and the savings promo is one way of doing that.

    Customers of the bank should cultivate a savings culture to enable them start a business and solve other financial problems on a rainy day,” he said.

     

     

     

     

  • Banks’ customers pick holes in cash-less policy

    Banks’ customers pick holes in cash-less policy

    The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) cash-less policy designed to reduce cash-based transactions is having difficulties in meeting customers’ expectations, The Nation investigation has revealed.

    Many banks’customers have raised issues with the services rendered by their banks in the course of the one year the policy has been in operation in Lagos State. They said the policy is “anything, but efficient at the moment.”

    One of the customers said he was compelled to wait for five days before he could get access to money that was “supposedly wired to his account in his presence.”

    He said: “I went to the bank (name withheld) with a friend who had just sold his car to a buyer for N4million. He insisted that the money be transferred to his account on-line. This was done, and we all witnessed it. The buyer’s account was debited immediately,” he added.

    “On the assumption that his account has similarly been credited (although he had not been alerted), he travelled out of the country. Four days later, the money had not hit his account,” he said. He said it was not until the fifth day that he was eventually credited with the proceeds.

    It was gathered that this has been the experience of many customers who have to wait for days, before they could access the money sent to them through the e-payment platform. Several other customers complained that remittances to their parents for the Christmas and New Year period were never delivered until several days later.

    When confronted, a spokesman for one of the banks, who pleaded that his identity be veiled, blamed the incident, which he admitted is a common occurrence, on equipment,

    Asked to explain why a system that can debit one’s account would be unable to credit another’s, he insisted: “It was a systemic challenge that the industry is grappling with and strenuously striving to resolve. It is not peculiar to this bank alone. It’s an industry issue,” he added.

    The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) spokesman, Ugochukwu Okoroafor, told The Nation there have been teething problems, but they are being overcome. He said the cash-less banking initiative did not exist before and, therefore, there is always time to learn.

    He said there is no system that is free of problems, “but the most important thing is that e-payment has made banking easier for bank customers,” . He assured that the banks have structures in place that make it possible for them to rectify any problems encountered by their customers.

    A customer of one of the first generation banks, Martins Obi, said banks have to ensure that they offer the best of services because such would enhance financial inclusion.

    He said many of the banks were yet to be acquainted with demands of the policy, urging that they make upgrade of their facilities a priority.

     

  • CBN urges banks to protect customers

    CBN urges banks to protect customers

    The Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) has urged money deposit banks (MDBs) to set up effective consumer complaints management framework to protect the rights of their customers.

    CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said the apex bank has created a customer protection unit to protect the interests of its customers, urging the MDBs to toe the line of the CBN because whenever customers have issues, not many of them come to the CBN to lodge complaints.

    “But that is a problem because the only people that come to us are those who know they can come to the Central Bank. The major challenge is not for the CBN to protect consumers, but for the banks themselves to make sure that their customers are protected; and to make sure they put in place structures to receive complains without them coming to the Central Bank. We are working with Bankers Committee on that,’’ Sanusi said.

    He outlined that the apex bank’s financial inclusion strategy provides the road map for the activities of all stakeholders in the provision of financial services for growth and development of the economy.

    He reiterated that the CBN would aim to reinforce its function in ensuring monetary stability and sound financial structure, to enhance economic development

    According to him, in addition to the implementation of key interventions, the apex bank will continue to adopt some specific models to help drive financial inclusion, including the transformation of the payment system, ensuring healthy financial evolution through the development of specialized banks and alternative sources of finance and financial education and consumer protection.

    He said the apex bank was committed to creating effective policy and regulatory environment that empower and protects the populace.

    Meanwhile, the CBN Governor has explained that the apex bank decided to use banks-led model to jumpstart its mobile money initiative because the CBN is primarily a regulator of banks and as such, will be in better stead to manage teething problems that may arise from a novel initiative like mobile money.

    He added that with the banks taking the formative position, the apex bank would then study the behaviours of the telecoms companies to decide on feasibility of expanding the frontiers of the new initiative without undermining the system.

     

  • Sterling Bank rewards more customers

    STERLING Bank Plc has rewarded another set of customers in its on-going Savers’ Promo which kicked-off in July this year. The bank, during the monthly draw of the promo in Lagos on Friday, said 14 customers across the country won both consolation and cash prizes for October edition.

    Out of this, four customers won a cash prize of N5 million each, while 10 others won consolation prizes such as refrigerators and Home Theatres.

    The cash prize winners are Abioye Oluwakemi Grace ( Ikeja Mainland Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB); Ocheinu Adah ( National Assembly Branch); Taiwo Godwin Anoemuah( Challenge ETB Branch); and Pepple Douglas Elewe( Uyo ETB Branch).

    Winners under the consolation category include Madu Stella ( Ilupeju branch, Lagos); Ibrahim Olumide Kazeem( Ikorodu-ETB Branch); Ipinlaye Moses Abayomi( Garki Area 8 Abuja); Elias Friday ( Garki-ETB Branch); Kolujo Abidemi Segun(Ijebu-Ode ETB-Branch); and Igwe Emeka Chidi( Owerri Road Branch). Others include Ojeabulu Omogbohu Esther( Benin Sapele Road- ETB-Branch); Mrs Uchenna Osuji( Onitsha Bridge ETB-Branch); Olusoji Aina (Port Harcourt Mainland ETB Branch) and David Daniel Etuk( Uyo, ETB-Branch).

    Head Consumers Protection Council, Lagos Branch, Mrs Ngozika Obidike said the process of selecting winners for the promo was transparent.

    Group Head, Liability Products, Mr John Akingbade said the promo is intended to reward loyal customers of the bank, and further promote the lender’s brand. He said the bank is leveraging on the promo to take banking to the nooks and crannies of the country.

    “This is the bank’s way of promoting financial inclusion policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) so that more people would have access to banking services. We have made the account opening process more convenient to customers to ensure wider accessibility of services. Four draws have been organised, with fourteen winners emerging from each of the draw. So far, 56 winners have emerged from the promo”, he said.

     

  • Kia rewards customers

    Kia rewards customers

    Kia Motors Nigeria has launched a new promotion scheme tagged Everybody is a winner with gifts including LCD televisions, home theatre systems, DVD players and much more to be won.

    This promotion, aimed at rewarding Kia’s teeming customers, would run throughout month in celebration of Nigeria’s Independence Day.

    The auto giant has over the last few months come up with various promotions and schemes aimed at making it easier for Nigerians to buy their dream KIA.

    Kia Motors Marketing Manager Kayode Adejumo said: “In this new promotion, every buyer of any KIA model gets to win prizes instantly. Once a buyer purchases a Kia, he gets to select a scratch card right there and goes home with any gift found on the scratch card.”

    Chief Commercial Officer, Mr Sandeep Malhotra also corroborated Adejumo adding that the customers are at the heart of their brand.

    “We aim to continuously improve the quality of our service and reward them for their loyal patronage,” Malhotra said.

    KIA Motors Nigeria has been in operation in Nigeria since 2002 and will be celebrating 10 years of doing business in Nigeria this November.