Some customers have accused first-generation banks in Anambra State of hoarding cash to maximise profits during the yuletide season.
They said the attitude has been boosting the business of Point of Sales operations in the metropolis.
According to them, some banks delay the issuance of Automated Teller Machines Cards for customers to dissuade and prevent them from accessing withdrawals from ATM points.
Some of those who raised the allegations said some traditional banks have been hoarding cash in order to have excess during the Christmas and New Year seasons.
They said some of the bank workers make money by providing cash for PoS business rather than making enough available at ATM terminals in their banks.
Voicing his condemnation against the development, a customer of one of the commercial banks in Anambra, Comrade Jude Udegbe, mentioned that banks, especially those situated in Nnewi, the one of the commercial nerve centres in the state and its environs, have been subjecting customers to anguish in accessing their savings.
Udegbe, the Chairman of the Anambra State Motorcycle Transport Welfare Association, lamented that real banking transactions have shifted to POS operators in the area.
He narrated how challenging it has been for customers to withdraw up to N100,000 at once from any bank within the industrial community.
He added that banks now prefer to send large sums of money to POS operators in exchange for hefty commissions.
Consequently, POS operators charge their customers exorbitant fees.
Udegbe alleged further that this trend has exacerbated the economic hardship faced by the masses.
According to him, “even traders now prefer dealing with POS operators, striking faster deals, rather than using banks.”
“The banks have started hoarding available cash, as they did last year. Meanwhile, POS operators are maximizing profits at their customers’ expense,” he further alleged.
He called on the state government and the Central Bank of Nigeria to intervene, maintaining that the situation has worsened the difficulties that people are already battling.
