CBN Goes Tough On Banks, Slams N2m Fine For Arbitrary Charges

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has asked banks and other financial institutions to adhere strictly to the Guide to Bank Charges directives or face a penalty of N2 million per infraction.

The apex bank had on Sunday, issued a 76-page circular to all banks, financial and non-bank financial institutions on the application of charges offered to customers.

According to the CBN, the revised guide to charges by banks will take effect on January 1, 2019.

To guard against excess, unapproved or arbitrary charges, the apex bank in a tweet, restated the penalty for banks who fail to comply with the directives.

“To guard against excess, unapproved or arbitrary charges by banks and other financial institutions, the Guide to Bank Charges stipulates a penalty of N2,000,000 per infraction or as may be determined by the CBN from time to time for financial institutions that breach any provision of the guide.”

It stated that another N2 million daily penalty will be charged on erring banks if they fail to comply with the earlier sanction.

“The guide also emphasizes that failure by any bank to comply with CBN’s directive in respect of any infraction shall attract a further penalty of N2,000,000 daily until the directive is complied with or as may be determined by the CBN from time to time.

“In order to ensure that banks actually attend to every customer’s complaints, CBN has directed banks to log every complaint received from their customers into the Consumer Complaints Management System (CCMS) in addition to generating a unique reference code for each complaint lodged, which must be given to the customer.

“CBN has also warned that failure to log and provide the code to the customer will amount to a breach and is sanctionable with a penalty of N1,000,000 per breach,” it added.

To guard against excess, unapproved or arbitrary charges by banks and other financial institutions, the Guide to Bank Charges stipulates a penalty of N2,000,000 per infraction

— Central Bank of Nigeria (@cenbank) December 24, 2019