The Director Corporate Communications of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Isaac Okorafor, says it is not the job of the Apex bank to decide how much commercial banks are dispensing in their ATMs to consumers, but to protect them.
Okorafor said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Lagos.
He spoke on the background of ATMs alterations by deposit money banks, following the apex bank release of the revised guide to bank charges.
The revised policy, which became effective on January 1, 2020, caused some banks to alter their machines to dispense maximum of between N5,000 to N10,000 to other bank card holders so as to beat CBN’s reduction of charges.
NAN reports that CBN reduced N65 charged on remote-on-us ATM after the third withdrawal in a month to N35.
Okorafor said: “There is no prescription by us to the banks that they must give out a certain amount per withdrawal to anybody.
“Banks decide how much they are to dispense in their ATMs.
“So, the way customers now look at it is as if everything banks do, we must hold them by the throat.
“As regulators, it is not our job; apart from protecting consumers of financial services, we are also working to ensure that deposit money banks work efficiently and competitively to remain in the business of providing all the services.”
Okorafor said the fact that the job of the apex bank was to regulate financial activities of banks, it did not mean it must regulate everything.
According to him, some aspects are left so that they constitute a point of competition among banks.
He urged people to make use of electronic transfers and lay less emphasis on withdrawal of cash.
He stressed that ATMs were not supposed to be for huge withdrawals, but for minor cash needs.
Okorafor therefore advised consumers who felt that they were not getting fair treatment from their banks to report to CBN or transfer their monies to another bank.
Besides, he assured that CBN would look into the matter and take appropriate action.
NAN.
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