INVESTIGATION: CBN implicated in massive bank fraud
by Joshua Amaugo
Post-Nigeria / 2016-02-10 19:02
As Nigerians locally and internationally, continue to grapple with the outrageous charges being meted on then by Deposit Money Banks, DMB, over forex withdrawals and payments made through Point of Sale services. The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has been found culpable.
Investigation by Post-Nigeria showed that customers using naira denominated cards to shop online including withdrawals outside the shores of the country are charged with the black market exchange rate, this has exposed how commercial banks are profiteering on their poor customers.
The CBN's official exchange rate is pegged at N199 to a dollar and N289-291 to the British pound sterling. Black market as at Wednesday, February 10, Naira exchange for dollar stood at N313 while pounds go for N442.
A business man who spoke to Post-Nigeria lamented that while paying for adverts on Facebook, said he was outrageously charged N306 to the dollar instead of N199 usually charged for the transaction.
Another customer of Guarantee Trust Bank, GTB, who complained about the current forex fraud, stated that few days ago after paying 1760 pounds, his account was debited N698. By the official rate, the bank should have charged N517.50.
"For instance, if we allow a margin of 20 per cent profit to the bank, the bank should not have charged more than N620. From the deduction, Nigerian banks are the ultimate currency black market traders in the way they charge users of their Visa and MasterCard." He stated
According to investigation, since December 2014, Nigerian banks have charged customers hidden fees on a single international ATM withdrawal for dollar at the Black market rate, which is widely above the official exchange rate.
Interestingly, rather than the CBN protecting innocent customers, it has given added impetus to the ongoing fraud by reducing the international daily withdrawal rates to $300 from $100,000 thereby encouraging banks to charge customers outrageously on frequent withdrawals.
Post-Nigeria in a bid to get to the root of the situation interviewed top management officials of Diamond, First Bank and Zenith Bank who in their various claims exonerated themselves from the outrageous charges.
They said although CBN gives them daily guidance on what to do, no bank has a specific charge on transaction made on POS or outside the country as banks have different template for charging customers, which is based on prevailing price margin for the day.
"We charge within the official window of N197-N199, we have been receiving same complains within weeks, but customers needs to understand that aside the official window charge, banks have their own charges, aside cards charges (Visa, Master) and Nigeria Interbank Settlement System, NIBSS, also deduct charges.
"When you aggregate all this charges, the amount to be deducted from your account goes up, that is why we encourage Nigerians to come to the bank and get form "A" and form "M" when you are visiting other countries.
"The form "A" is for those seeking to pay tuition fees, medical bills among several others while form "M" is for those who want to do business."
Explaining further, the top bank official said: "When you obtain this form, charges on your account will be limited to what you might encounter while withdrawing for Leisure.
"The reason is that CBN in trying to cushion pressure on the naira and tackle corruption headlong and wants to discourage the withdrawal of cash abroad from your debit card.
"Some people go abroad, withdrawal from their account in dollars and bring it back to the country to sell to the Bureau de Change, making three times the money.
"CBN as a way of discouraging round tripping has made it difficult with high charges which are sometime closely equivalent to the black market price in Nigeria," Top bank officials confided with Post-Nigeria
On the outrageous charges melted on Nigerians on the payment of goods and services within the country and online, the banks denied knowledge of such charges calling on customers who had such issues to visit their respective banks for complains and clarifications.
When asked about the recent stamp duty imposition, one of the commercial banks official said "To tell you the truth, Nigeria is broke, the nation's wealth is in the hand of few individuals, I think the government of the day want to generate revenue from taxes to fund its budget".
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