The commercial banks doing business in Nigeria may lose millions of naira to the new regime stopping them from charging customers N100 for using Automated Teller Machines (ATM) per transaction.

Under the outgoing regime, a customer using the ATM of another bank is charged N100 per transaction. The banks, under the Bankers Committee, after a meeting in Abuja, recently opted to stop the fee, saying it was a sacrifice they have to make to ease the pains of their customers.

The Group Managing Director, First Bank Plc, Mr. Bisi Onasanya, said the decision will help to increase the patronage of ATMs in the country.

He said, “When you use the ATM of a bank other than your bank, there is a charge of N100, which is borne by the account holder. We have decided that we will work out the modality and ensure that with immediate effect we will pass on this cost to respective banks to bear the cost of providing services.”

He added, “No matter where you are withdrawing your money from, you will not be subjected to any charge for using the ATM. The new policy does not cover withdrawals inside the banking hall when the ATMs are off. But for transaction on what we call ‘not on us,’ when you are a customer with First bank, you can use the ATM of a GTB bank, it is free and you will no longer bear any cost”.

www.vanguardngr.com/2012/12/atm-banks-to-lose-millions/

if it is policy that the bank will benefit from it will be implemented with immediate effect but now dat is the customer benefiting from it,is taking them time..
do they mount a generator at ATM stand cos dey claim to use the hundred naira for fuel..

We don't have to be
happy with this news,because
one thing is so sure that once
they stop the ATM charges the
ATM machines will no longer be
effective as it used to be. The ATM situation will be worst than what we are experiencing
now. And the issue of Debiting
will increase. if they the banks
can make the ATM more
effective and maybe charge let's say N50 Fifty Naira per
transaction I think that is very
reasonable too. There is
nowhere ATM transaction is
free even in the developed
world. If we are happy that they stop the charges today
we will still come back to this
forum to cry for the
ineffectiveness of the ATM
machine in no time. I see this as
a Greek gift.

Happy Sunday to ya'll

Fatdon: We don't have to be
happy with this news,because
one thing is so sure that once
they stop the ATM charges the
ATM machines will no longer be
effective as it used to be. The ATM situation will be worst than what we are experiencing
now. And the issue of Debiting
will increase. if they the banks
can make the ATM more
effective and maybe charge let's say N50 Fifty Naira per
transaction I think that is very
reasonable too. There is
nowhere ATM transaction is
free even in the developed
world. If we are happy that they stop the charges today
we will still come back to this
forum to cry for the
ineffectiveness of the ATM
machine in no time. I see this as
a Greek gift.

that N50 'll make someone's acct ugly

So it's good for the populace to lose hundreds and thousands of naira.

If they like they should lose trillions,my own is just that no more charges for me on ATM.

Nonsense

speechless

tank God the mods unbanned me after leaving me out to dry for seven days.
Long live Nairaland

I don't use ATM,none of ma biz

At the end of the day this will affect the customers most because i see the banks reducing the numbers of ATM machines that they have since they don't really have anything to benefit from having the machines all over the place.

all these charges should be looked into 'sef'.
I remember 4yrs ago when i got 2d bank and saw a guy causing wahala. He said he was so so so broke,and his bros sent him 1k after he suffered for 3wks.
He got 2d bank ATM dat day and couldnt withdraw,chkd his balance and saw 940,hw come? D idiots deducted 60bucks Service charge!

This guy no send,hin jst dey para. He went inside o,and queued,and collected d 940 by hand. Evrybody in d banking hall wer jst laughin. Come c as d guy bone face.
He had d last laf sha,aftathe colectd his cash

k2039: So it's good for the populace to lose hundreds and thousands of naira.

If they like they should lose trillions,my own is just that no more charges for me on ATM.

Nonsense

besides this banks makes enough money to cover up atm maintenance cash etc.. but they just decide to include that N100 to over make enough profit (partial extortion) if its N20 naira now ..its more reasonable. every time i wanna withdraw 100 thousand, i have to cough 500 naira that is enough to buy me recharge card that i will use in a day.. its BS... ( its only nigerian banks that will over charge u with everything, if u loan money from them, almost all the profit of the money will go to them because of their stupid high interest rate) despite the fact that they are making a lot of money from the money we save with them

afam4eva: At the end of the day this will affect the customers most because i see the banks reducing the numbers of ATM machines that they have since they don't really have anything to benefit from having the machines all over the place.

let them reduce it... what is the essence of their many atms that doesnt work in the first place

Fatdon: We don't have to be
happy with this news,because
one thing is so sure that once
they stop the ATM charges the
ATM machines will no longer be
effective as it used to be. The ATM situation will be worst than what we are experiencing
now. And the issue of Debiting
will increase. if they the banks
can make the ATM more
effective and maybe charge let's say N50 Fifty Naira per
transaction I think that is very
reasonable too. There is
nowhere ATM transaction is
free even in the developed
world. If we are happy that they stop the charges today
we will still come back to this
forum to cry for the
ineffectiveness of the ATM
machine in no time. I see this as
a Greek gift.

i never knew that they were great nigerians thinkers like u.this is d samething i thought about.even in freetown,nothing is free.surfing d web isnt free,is it?atleast 50naira will be moderate,if not,our Atm will die completely cos nothing wil serve as a motivator 4them to continue.

Let dem lose Billions, who cares!... Wot happen 2d money dey've been generatn' frm ATM all these yrs?

Fatdon: We don't have to be
happy with this news,because
one thing is so sure that once
they stop the ATM charges the
ATM machines will no longer be
effective as it used to be. The ATM situation will be worst than what we are experiencing
now. And the issue of Debiting
will increase. if they the banks
can make the ATM more
effective and maybe charge let's say N50 Fifty Naira per
transaction I think that is very
reasonable too. There is
nowhere ATM transaction is
free even in the developed
world. If we are happy that they stop the charges today
we will still come back to this
forum to cry for the
ineffectiveness of the ATM
machine in no time. I see this as
a Greek gift.

I disagree with you to a large extent because the more complaints customers have with ATMs transactions, the more crowded the banking halls will be and, by extension, there will be more work for the bank both in terms of time and manpower. So the banks are actually happier if the ATMs do not result in any transaction error because what the banks want is money in your accounts and not crowded customers in their banking halls.

Furthermore, with respect to your claim that ATM fees are charged globally, all I can say is that almost all ATMs in the UK are completely free for withdrawal irrespective of your bank. Besides, from the comfort of your home and with the help of a laptop or a smartphone, it doesn't cost any pence to send money from your account to any other UK acount no matter the bank you are sending the money to.

Itoroetti :

i never knew that they were great nigerians thinkers like u.this is d samething i thought about.even in freetown,nothing is free.surfing d web isnt free,is it?atleast 50naira will be moderate,if not,our Atm will die completely cos nothing wil serve as a motivator 4them to continue.

My question for you would be were they charging you money on savings to pay the salaries of their workforce? The answer is capital NO. So the actual fact is that with widespread patronage of ATMs, the banks will be able to operate effectively with fewer number of workforce and unnecessary branches and that is exactly what they have always wanted. Banks do not survive by meager ATMs fees and you need to understand that fact.

@fatdone y ar u talkin lyk dis.... If 9ja becum d 1st country 2 implement such policy is it bad?

Aftaral u wil b d1 2condem nigeria if da didnt implement any relevant policy dat has bin implement worldwide. Wakeup man.

This will favour First Bank the most because they knew that their ATM mess up any how more especially on Fridays, with this it will make their work easier so that their customers will shift to another bank to withdraw because they already knew that people don't like the charges.

Nethertheless it's an improvement and I like it more than any other person lol.

once this ATM charges are stopped, prepare to hear the news of branches closing and ATM machines been transferred, because millions of Naira which amounts to direct income for the banks is being stopped. The banks in Nigeria are not doing substantial businesses , so those charges are what makes their books balance unlike banks in the UK for example.


this is another bad move by the cattle rearer, when i was in the bank , i know how much the branch was making on the single ATM machine we had, which was helping the books balance when there are extremely low meaningful transactions. Nothing good comes out of this mallam's head.

shyna501: Let dem lose Billions, who cares!... Wot happen 2d money dey've been generatn' frm ATM all these yrs?

that is part of the money they are using to pay their workforce.

. We don't have to be
happy with this news,because
one thing is so sure that once
they stop the ATM charges the
ATM machines will no longer be
effective as it used to be. The ATM situation will be worst than what we are experiencing
now. And the issue of Debiting
will increase. if they the banks
can make the ATM more
effective and maybe charge let's say N50 Fifty Naira per
transaction I think that is very
reasonable too. There is
nowhere ATM transaction is
free even in the developed
world. If we are happy that they stop the charges today
we will still come back to this
forum to cry for the
ineffectiveness of the ATM
machine in no time. I see this as
a Greek gift

U stay in one country, and magically claim dat no where in d world are ATMs free. Total rubbish. D banks may have hidden charges, but as far as am concerned, ATM is free in developed countries. It is only an extremely small no of ATMs dat incur charges, and dey are usually found in small shops.

eelvismd:

I disagree with you to a large extent because the more complaints customers have with ATMs transactions, the more crowded the banking halls will be and, by extension, there will be more work for the bank both in terms of time and manpower. So the banks are actually happier if the ATMs do not result in any transaction error because what the banks want is money in your accounts and not crowded customers in their banking halls.

Furthermore, with respect to your claim that ATM fees are charged globally, all I can say is that almost all ATMs in the UK are completely free for withdrawal irrespective of your bank. Besides, from the comfort of your home and with the help of a laptop or a smartphone, it doesn't cost any pence to send money from your account to any other UK acount no matter the bank you are sending the money to.

Thanks for this post, I was about to disagree with the poster as well before I saw your reply. I guess most people are already used to how things work in a bizarre manner in Nigeria. Illegal ways of making money by corporate institutions has now become the norm that people can't differentiate between what is right or wrong.

The bad side of this new policy is that no one can withdraw money from any ATM machine which is not owned by his parent bank. I tried to withdraw from Access bank, First Bank and Zenith bank with my GTB ATM card and was rejected. While people with the parent bank ATM card withdrew easily. I have to locate GTB ATM machine for me to withdraw. Even GTB denied withdrawal to people with other banks ATM card. This happened throughout this week in Enugu.

Before anybody begins to say banks will loose millions if N100 transaction fee is stopped, can someone please calculate how much these banks have made as untaxed profit from ATM machines? Billions upon billions.

Multiply N100 by hundred people in hundred places at a hundred time. Let us assume this happens 5-times a day and this is just for 1-bank. Do the mathematics across board.

Has the billions of N100 collected made the ATM services more efficient? No. Are the banks the real owners of the ATM machines? No. If you know how the whole deal works, the N100 is for a middle-man company owned and shared among the banks. The idea was brilliant but its a fraud. They are the ones that share the money. N100 is not for any ATM maintenance.

What ATMs are they maintaining? Are the machines new? No. If the machines are NEW, shouldn't there be a 3-year warranty / insurance cover charge? - meaning the banks should not bear any maintenance or repairs cost. Isn't this the ideal thing too do? Where is the manufacturers seal on the machines? have you seen one yet?

Are these the same machines used in Europe and America?No. They might look the same but toyota 2012 is different from toyota 1980. All of them are refurbished machines imported from Asia and Europe. The machines run a lame version of the Windows Operating system, and thats why its easy for them to make mistakes. These are the same machines deployed all over Asia as far back as 1995-2000. Our ATM engineer boys dont need any training to figure out the koko. You don't even have to work with an ATM machine to know the things are lame-fake.

The whole banking system in Nigeria is a complete fraud from head to toe. From the ATM machines to MasterCard/VisaCard/whatever, Nigeria's bank stakeholders from the CBN downwards should be imprisoned for high class fraud. When you are tasked to make decisions on behalf of a whole nation, you better put on your thinking cap. Unfortunately, the self-profiting actions of our leaders do not have any repercussions.

Where do you think these banks get the money to erect massive buildings all over the country? How much do they declare as profit for their share holders yearly? For ex: you have 5-banks on a single street, within a 1-kilometer radius, is the population of people living in / working in that area on a given 5-days a week commensurate to the #banks in the area and the number of transactions per day? coz after another 1-km, you see another 5-banks. Do the living standards of the people in the area justify the multiplicity of banks and services? Even in developed countries where things are happening, do they line up banks like a housing estate? No-wonder armed robbers went to buy calculators, they are more inspired than they fear for their lives.

Why is it that many people want to work in banks? because it is easier to steal. If our economy was better than it is, I wont be pissed, but considering our financial reputation as a nation, fraud, under any guise should be a treasonable charge.

Ive not seen it in any other country except Nigeria - banks charging customers for withdrawing from ATM machines. The banks themselves cannot put into writing what the N100 is used for. And what is the basis for the ATM charge? Ok, I bank with GTB and their ATM is out of order when I wanted to use it and so I went to the machine in front of another bank; therefore its either I dont make my withdrawal or I have to pay N100 or wait for GTB to fix their machines? We should be asking them why the machine is out of order in the first place.

Even with the N100 charges, does the bank have any responsibility to keep the ATMs running? No. Why? because they know that Nigerians wont complain about N100 and they would rather go to the ATM machine of another bank. Thats according to information from the ICPC.

Does money in accounts even yeild anything? If you leave N1K in your account for 30-days, how much does it yeild as compared to N100?

Worse than ATM machines are the illegal deductions:
With all that Ive experienced from GTB alone in 2012, honestly, banking in Nigeria is not worth the effort. My sad experience has made me more interested in the whole banking thing. I'm like: what da FKKK, I never knew things were so bad. This is the same GTB that continued deducting SMS charges from my account on a monthly basis even when the number was suspended/terminated 10-months back, even though has been no transaction on the account. Yet they claim to be sending me SMSs; meanwhile they were calling me on my new number and they couldn't do the mathematics in between after I complained. The only thing that works in Nigeria is force, so after machining up all my machineries, the returned all the deductions quietly.

Useless people!

So while ATM charges is ONE, just think of how much these banks make by illegal deductions. About 2years ago, I had to write a mail to a bank asking them for which of their services costs N11.50.

I don't think the charges should be stopped but made to be charged reasonably cos the 100bucks is much.If it 's stopped,most of the banks will stop maintaining the ATMs and customers would have to queue all day to withdraw their cash.

@nairabytes. you are 100% on point

Itoroetti :

i never knew that they were great nigerians thinkers like u.this is d samething i thought about.even in freetown,nothing is free.surfing d web isnt free,is it?atleast 50naira will be moderate,if not,our Atm will die completely cos nothing wil serve as a motivator 4them to continue.

We aint gonna pay no kobo for ATM. They aren't doing us a favour by providing ATM. They are doing demselves a favour. Without the machines, they will need to employ more staff to cope with loads of people that just want to check their balance, withdraw etc. Taking care of every staff goes beyond just the salary.
They will need to expand their banking halls and make them more comfortable.
Sure they can sacrifice the N100 per withdrawal they have been stealing from us.

Itoroetti :

i never knew that they were great nigerians thinkers like u.this is d samething i thought about.even in freetown,nothing is free.surfing d web isnt free,is it?atleast 50naira will be moderate,if not,our Atm will die completely cos nothing wil serve as a motivator 4them to continue.

I am not surprised that the MD of First Bank championed it. By the time banks restrict their ATMs to their customers, the likes of First Bank, UBA, and Ecobank will gain more customers because of the number of branch network at the expense of the likes of Standard Chartered, Stanbic IBTC, Citibank, FCMB etc. It is simply a strategy but many do not know.

Naija, aargh!

Pls what is ATM?