The Bank Customers Association of Nigeria has said that the banks that were penalised by the Central Bank of Nigeria for not ensuring cash availability via their Automated Teller Machines deserved the punishment.
This was disclosed in an exclusive chat with the president of BCAN, Dr. Uju Ogubunka, on Wednesday.
CBN sanctioned nine deposit money banks with fines totalling N1.35bn for failing to ensure cash availability via automated teller machines during the festive season. Each of the banks was fined N150m following spot checks that revealed non-compliance with the apex bank’s cash distribution guidelines.
The affected banks include Fidelity Bank Plc, First Bank Plc, Keystone Bank Plc, Union Bank Plc, Globus Bank Plc, Providus Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, and Sterling Bank Plc. The fines will be directly debited from the banks’ accounts with the CBN.
Speaking on the fines, Ogubunka said, “We know that CBN was serious about what they said because, at the last Bankers’ Dinner, the CBN governor mentioned it; he said that they were not going to tolerate any disobedience to rules and regulations. That they have sanctioned them shows that they are serious.
“The banks that are victims have no one but themselves to blame, for they were forewarned as far as November last year. They deserve it. Maybe they will learn their lessons, and if they don’t, they will fall victim to the next round of penalties.”
He added, “We are happy. If the banks have learnt their lessons, they should be able to put money in the ATMs. That does not mean that the point-of-sale terminal operators should not have money, but we have to be sensible about it because they are also a creation of CBN. We have to manage the system, but I’m happy that the CBN has started to impose penalties. It is a reward for disobedience.”
Dismissing claims from bankers that they were no longer getting enough cash, the former registrar of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria asked, “Did they go to the central bank and not get cash? If they didn’t, they can justify their position. The CBN would know if the banks had come for cash and didn’t get it, in which case it was not their fault, but if the banks gave that as an excuse but it was discovered that CBN had given them cash at different times, then the CBN would know that they were telling lies. CBN would not have penalised any institution without verifying. They cannot penalise you for what you didn’t do.”
Meanwhile, there have been reports that the sanctioned banks loaded their ATMs with cash on Wednesday.
