- Cashless Policy: Banks to Charge 3% on Deposits
The Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday directed all Deposit Money Banks to effect charges on deposits and withdrawals.
In the circular ref BPS/DIR/GEN/CIR/04/004, the apex bank said charges on deposits will commence in Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Abia, Anambra, River States and the FCT on September 18, 2019. This is in addition to already existing charges on withdrawals.
For individual accounts, a processing fee of 3 percent will apply on withdrawals more than N500,000 while 2 percent processing fee will apply on lodgments more than N500,000.
Similarly, corporate account owners will pay 5 percent processing fee on withdrawals more than N3,000,000 and 3 percent processing fee on deposits more than the same amount.
Also, for electronic transactions, the apex bank reduced Merchant Service Charge (MSC) from 0.75 percent capped at N1,200 to 0.50 percent capped at N1,000.
Accordingly, banks are directed to deduct applicable taxes, and duties on individual transactions in accordance with regulations.
The central bank continues to push for a total cashless policy to enable transparency across all levels.
A week ago, banks were directed to dishonour non-electronic payment of salaries, pensions, and taxes of public and private companies.
“This means payment instructions and associated schedules are no longer to be transmitted to DMBs through unsecured channels, such as paper-based mandates, flash drives, compact discs (CDs), email attachments, etc by qualifying public and private sector organisations,” the central bank stated.
Meanwhile, the central bank has rescheduled Monetary Policy Committee meeting scheduled for 23 September 2019 to Thursday 19, September 2019.
