Nine Banks Earned N25.9bn From Electronic Products in Q1

• Nine Banks Earned N25.9bn From Electronic Products in Q1

Nine Nigerian banks made about N25.9bn in the first three months of the year from electronic transactions, the first quarter unaudited annual reports of the banks showed.

This is an increase of N6.22bn over the N19.7bn that the nine banks made from electronic business in the same period of the previous year.

The amount was earned from fees and commission that the banks charged their customers when they carried out transactions through Automated Teller Machines, Internet banking, and Point of Sale machines.

The nine banks assessed are Zenith Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank, Access Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank, United Bank for Africa Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, First Bank of Nigeria Limited and Fidelity Bank Plc.

UBA earned the highest income on its electronic products from January to March this year, reporting N5.86bn, a 22 per cent increase in revenue from N4.79bn in the comparable period of 2017.

First Bank ranked second, reporting N5.49bn revenue from electronic transactions, a 35 per cent increase compared with N4.06bn generated within the same period of 2017.

With N4.37bn, FCMB reported a 25 per cent increase in its electronic banking income as against N3.5bn earned between January and March 2017.

Earnings from electronic transactions by Zenith Bank rose by 147 per cent from N1.42bn in the first quarter of 2017 to N3.52bn in the first three months of this year.

Access Bank’s electronic business income closed the first quarter of the year at N2.48bn, an increase of 21.8 per cent over N2.04bn made in 2017.

GTB’s earnings from electronic business improved by three per cent to N2.11bn in the first quarter of 2018 as against N2.05bn in the same period of 2017.

Stanbic IBTC earned N468m from its electronic channels, compared to N526m in the first three months of 2017.

Sterling Bank’s earnings increased by 90 per cent from N619m in the first quarter of 2017 to N1.17bn in the same period of 2018.

With N460m, Fidelity Bank’s earnings dropped by 35 per cent year-on-year at the end of the first quarter of this year.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s guidelines on bank charges, which took effect on May 1, 2017, stipulate that withdrawal from other banks’ ATMs within the country attracts N65 charge after the third withdrawal within the same month.

According to the guidelines, bills payment on electronic channels of the banks also attracts N50 for transactions below and above N10bn, while real-time gross settlement attracts N550 per transaction.

The apex bank stated that alerts on transactions should not be more than N4 per SMS, while bulk payments such as salaries and dividends attract a maximum of N50 per beneficiary, which is paid by the sender.