The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has given reasons the Bankers Committee came up with a policy of N65 charge on Automated Teller Machine (ATM) transactions.
The reasons adduced by the apex bank include intra-operability, need for profitability for banks, huge cost of ATM maintenance, huge cost of servicing telecommunications and switching firms.
According to CBN, Director, Banking and Payment System Development, Mr. Dipo Fatokun, who was reacting to matter arising from a lawsuit instituted by the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS), during a- one day media training organised by the Electronic Payment Providers Association of Nigeria (E-PPAN) at the weekend , tagged: ‘E-Payment Media Academy 101’, said factors were the reasons for the deduction.
Fatokun, who was represented by a Deputy Director of CBN, Mr. Musa Jimoh Itopa, explained during a paper presentation tagged : ‘Understanding the policy of e-payments in Nigeria’, says, “Going to another bank’s ATM was killing the bank’s profitability. We devised means to identify cost of ATMs maintenance, switches that will do the processing and telecoms operators that are paid regularly on daily basis for broadband connectivity.
He disclosed that when the banks were deducting N100 for every transactions, complaints were not much, as banks had enough to handle maintenance. “What portion was your bank taking, when it was N100? The banks take N35,which is the issuer fee and there are payments here and there. While N35 still remain for the bank’s ATM but customers are still not happy with the N65 policy, which is quite transparent and flexible”.
He further disclosed that CBN, has restated its commitment in improving security issues around the electronic payment system to boost public confidence. Adding that CBN also wants to eradicate a situation whereby a particular ATM card cannot work in another machine.
The role of the Electronic Payment Providers Association of Nigeria (E-PPAN) has increasingly become oriented to policy advocacy, capacity building and training towards the achievement of the adoption of E-payment and improving service delivery.
E-PPAN realizes the important function of the media in achieving its objectives and has therefore entered into collaboration with Industry experts to train the men of the fourth estate of the realm whose duty included agenda setting for the society.
The objective of the training is to enlighten the journalists on the intricacies and peculiarities of providing electronic payment services and also to drive home the benefits to the society.
Earlier,Chief Executive Officer of E-PPAN, Mrs Onajite Regha, said their aim was to help informed analytical reporting on secured system, when it concerns electronic transactions.
Also speaking, Osa Odiase, Head, Public Sector and Corporate Nigerian Inter- Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), also disclosed that well over 100,000 Point of Sale (PoS) have been deployed across the country. Noting that there is a serious collaboration between NIBSS, E-PPAN and telecommunications operators to accelerate e-payment in the country.
