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Business News of Tuesday, 10 January 2023

Source: thenationonlineng.net

Withdrawal policy pushes up PoS transaction charges

PoS machine (file image) PoS machine (file image)

Point of Sale (PoS) operators in Abuja have increased their charges by 300 per cent. They now charge N300 for every N10,000 withdrawn or transferred to another account.

An agent told The Nation that “we charged N100 for every N10,000 transaction before, but it is now N300 for every N10,000.”

The agent who simply identified herself as Edith said the charges were increased after banks effected three per cent charge on withdrawals of over N500,000.

“We had to increase our prices after the three per cent charges on our withdrawal today, three per cent. I feel this is day light robbery,” she said.

Another reason for the hike in charges, she explained, is that “some of the banks use savings instead of current accounts when issuing the PoS terminal because of the heavy charges involved. This development has forced us to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea.”

Edith lamented that “the CBN cash withdrawal limit policy is being met with so much negative reactions from our customers.”

Tope, another operator in Kabusa, said he does between N700,000 and N900,000 transactions a week and does not like going to the bank every time he runs out of cash.

“I’ have resigned to fate,” he said, adding that he would be paying the three per cent bank charge for the withdrawals.

He added that he was worried that his customers might be discouraged from using PoS.

Kabusa attributed yesterday’s rush to withdraw cash by customers to the aftermath of long queues arising from the holidays.

Agents who do not handle as much cash as Tope and Edith have not transferred the cost of bank charges to their customers, but it is likely they would join the bandwagon just to make extra money.

In a new circular issued to all banks, the CBN increased the maximum weekly limit for cash withdrawal across all channels with effect from 9th January 2023.

Commercial banks yesterday began enforcement of the CBN cash withdrawal limit for transactions across all channels.

The policy limits weekly cash withdrawal to N500,000 and N5 million for individuals and corporate bodies respectively. The implementation of the policy has also flipped the charges imposed by PoS agents.

A branch operations manager in one of the tier-1 banks in Marina, Lagos, said his bank’s IT unit has been directed to ensure that any customer that exceeds the set limit is debited the excess amount fee.

The source said the enforcement of the policy started with customers being advised to embrace digital payment to transact more without restrictions.

In a Keystone Bank branch in Maryland, a customer who came to make N1 million cash withdrawal later took N500,000 after being told the cost implications.

The customer, Abubakr Saliu, a Bureaux de Change operator, based in Ikeja, said he would send the balance to his customer through transfer.

“I was not fully aware of the policy, but the branch manager explained to me that I will pay three per cent fee on the extra N500,000. I do not have the capacity to absorb such cost. I have explained to my customer that i will send the balance through mobile money transfer,” he said.

Access Bank, Zenith Bank, among others, have sustained their sensitisation to customers on the need to embrace digital channels to avoid the restrictions.

In an emailed report to customers, Access Bank said: “Dear esteemed customer, please be informed that effective, January 9, 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s updated Monetary Policy for cash withdrawal will become operative. Maximum weekly withdrawals across all channels will be N500,000 for individuals, with three per cent processing fee for additional withdrawals.

“To avoid the restrictions on cash withdrawals and enjoy higher transaction limits, please use digital channels and internet banking for transactions.”