CBN Seeks Banks' Support to Strengthen Payment System

James Emejo in Abuja and Bassey Inyang in Calabar

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele yesterday urged the banking sector to support the move to strengthen the payment system in the country so as to ensure reliability and security.

Speaking at the bankers' conference in Abuja themed, "Positioning Nigeria's Payment System for Global Competitiveness," Emefiele said, the CBN had come a long way in repositioning the country's payment system.

He noted that there was need to ensure the security and reliability of the payment system.

Represented at the occasion by CBN Deputy Governor (Economic Policy), Dr. Sarah Alade, Emefiele revealed there had been a 98 per cent drop in card related fraud as a result of several steps taken by the apex bank in sanitising the system.

He, however, identified some of the challenges currently facing the system as weak risk management frameworks, security issues, resistance of target customers to patronise new products and lack of unique identifier for customers across institutions.

Others according to him include high operating costs, interconnectivity of networks, low level of card usage on point of sale and non-transparent pricing.

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan, while declaring the conference open said, professional bankers have a very important role to play in the transformation and development of the country, adding that a high level of professional conduct and ethics must be displayed at all times.

Represented by the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Otunla, Jonathan said: "Banking practice demand enormous responsibilities for the trust and confidence which the society places on the practitioners.

“You must be aware that banks and other financial institutions constitute a formidable group of stakeholders in a modern economy, for which society demands a high level of professional conduct and ethics."


Minister for Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson also tasked banks to put in place cost effective infrastructure for effective payment system in the country.

In a related development, the CBN said it has ordered banks to refund over N17 billion illegally charged customers.

The central bank also disclosed that about 5,500 customers complained that their accounts were being tampered with as at August 2014.

Director, Customer Protection Department at the central bank, Mrs. Umma Dutse who was represented by Khadija Kasim made the disclosure in Calabar during a media briefing to commence a workshop on consumer protection and financial inclusion.

Responding to a question on the rising level of fraud in the banking system, Dutse said: “Concerning fraud with insider connection, as at August 2014, the central bank received 5,500 complaints from customers. I can authoritatively tell you that through our intervention, erring banks have paid N17 billion to customers whose complaints were found to be genuine.”

Speaking further she said: “If a customer knows every line of transaction, there will be accessibility to redress.  The customer should know what he has to do to protect himself in order to avoid certain risks.

“Customers should look at their account statements regularly and if there are charges  don’t understand, they should complain to the bank who must resolve it within 30 days or the customer should escalate it by going to the Consumer Protection Department of the CBN,” she added.

Also, the Director of Corporate Communications at the CBN, Mr. Mua’azu Ibrahim said the CBN has been moving round the country to sensitise the people on their rights and to inform them of channels of redress.

Ibrahim stated that the CBN deliberately put in place structures to ensure that consumers develop trust in the financial system.
Ibrahim advised bank customers to seize the opportunity and learn more about how to relate with their banks and avoid being defrauded.

Culled from thisdaylive.com