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Multiple charges threaten cashless policy, financial inclusion –Report

Leading Stockbroking firm, CSL Stockbrokers Limited has revealed that the multiple charges on electronic forms of transaction are capable of threatening the cashless policy and financial inclusion drive of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

The firm in a newly published report posited that the recently imposed N50 stamp duty charge on Point of Sales, PoS, payment will further burden Nigerians, who are currently grappling with multiple charges on transactions.

The firm further stated that as a result of the charges, the number of POS transactions had dropped significantly.

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“Asking consumers to pay an extra N50 if they use the POS machine, as a means of settlement appears counter-effective to CBN’s cashless policy agenda in our view. While we see the positive of increased government revenue from the introduction of the stamp duty charge, we believe it could be a drag on CBN’s financial inclusion drive. Nigerians, especially bank customers complain that they are made to face several charges by the financial institutions. These include N52.50 monthly card maintenance fee; N65 after third withdrawal on remote-on-us Automated Teller Machines, N4 for SMS alerts, N52 deduction in electronic transfer service. Many banks also charge fees for hardware token and for one-time pin SMS charge. Introducing stamp duty on POS transactions may not be ideal to achieve CBN’s financial inclusion goals as well as support a cashless economy, thus we feel the revision is a welcome development” the report stated.

Recall that in September, the CBN in a circular stated that daily withdrawals and deposits by individuals that exceed N500, 000 will attract a 2% charge on the excess deposits and 3% charge on the excess withdrawals while daily withdrawals and deposits by corporates exceeding N3 million attract a 3% charge on the excess deposits and a 5% charge on excess withdrawals.

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