The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in a bid to generate revenue for banks has introduced a maintenance fee of N1 on every current account transaction.
This was contained in a circular signed by the Director of Financial Policy and Regulation of CBN, Kevin Amugo and addressed to commercial banks.
This comes few weeks after the central bank kicked off its Zero COT, commission on turnover, policy for all commercial banks within the country.
CBN said, “The revised guide to bank charges (RGBC) which came into effect on April 1, 2013 provides for a phased elimination of commission on turnover (COT) charges in the Nigerian banking industry, under the guidelines, a zero COT regime was to come into effect from January 2016.”
The apex bank observed that while COT was gradually phased out, some banks began charging maintenance fee in addition to COT, adding that it was also aware of the impact of dwindling oil prices, Treasury Single Account, TSA, and other market turbulence.
CBN said, “In the interest of stability, of the banking system, a negotiable current account maintenance fee not exceeding N1.00 per mille (1/N1,000) may be charged in respect to all customer induced debit transaction”.
It would be recalled that the apex bank has equally imposed a stamp duty of N50 on every transaction.
This latest policy of CBN implies that for every N100,000 leaving a current account, deposit money banks are permitted to deduct N100 for account maintenance.
Comments