Stakeholders embrace CBN cashless policy extension

JOHNSON OKANLAWON AND KUNLE AZEEZ 20/03/2012 00:00:00

Okonjo-Iweala

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Stakeholders in the epayment subsector have endorsed the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to extend the commencement date of the cashless policy implementation till the end of the year. The decision suggests that inadequate deployment of point-of-sales terminals and automated teller machines have necessitated such an extension.

The deposit money banks should have started imposing a 10 per cent unit charge on transactions above N150,000 and N1m for individuals and corporate bodies respectively from March 30, 2012, but the CBN extended the deadline to December 31, while the roll-out in other states in the country was deferred to January 1, 2013.
The Chief Executive Officer of Interswitch, Mr. Mitchel Elegbe, explained that the banks currently had about 11,000 ATMs, a figure currently considered grossly inadequate for the Nigerian banking public.
“The CBN’s decision is appropriate as it will allow more deployment of ATMs in areas where people currently do not have such machines to allow them pay for bills and do other transactions using the ATM platforms,” he said.
He added that by December, more ATM terminals would have emerged with increased awareness, using various channels of communication to infuse card culture in Nigerians towards embracing electronic transactions.
Also, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement Systems, Mr. Niyi Ajao, said that the available data showed that about 33,000 PoS have been deployed so far in Lagos for the Cash-Less Lagos exercise.
He said that although Nigerians banks had placed orders for additional 90,000 PoS terminals to be deployed across the country, only about 20, 000 of the 90,000 ordered for had been installed so far.
This is in addition to the 13, 000 PoS machines in the country before the close of work in 2011.
He said: “As at the close of work last year, the total terminals we had in the country just a paltry 13,000. Between that time and now, banks have placed orders for not less than 90,000 and as I speak, no less than 20,000 have been deployed out of the 90, 000.
“These 20,000, when added to the former 13,000, we would be talking of about over 30, 000 terminals already deployed within Lagos State.”
The Head of Corporate Communication of Union Bank Plc, Mr. Francis Barde, told National Mirror that the bank had deployed 1,410 PoS out of the 5,000 targetted for Lagos State.
In a notice posted at the CBN website and signed by the Acting Director, Banking and Payments System Department, Mr. G. I. Emokpae, the cash withdrawals and lodgements limit have been raised to N500,000 and N3m by individuals and corporate customers respectively.
The notice explained that the processing fees for withdrawal above the limit for individual customers had been reviewed downwards from 10 per cent to three per cent, while the processing fee for withdrawal above the limit for corporate had been reviewed downwards from 20 per cent to five per cent.
The notice read in part: “The processing fee for lodgement above the limit for individual customers has been reviewed downwards from 10 per cent to two per cent, while the processing fee for lodgement above the limit for corporate has been reviewed downwards from 20 per cent to three per cent.
“The reduction in the processing fees is a temporary measure that will be reviewed every six months. All other clauses contained in the circular under reference remain valid.”
The CBN, however, granted exemption on lodgement for accounts operated by ministries, departments and agencies of the federal and state governments, for the purpose of revenue collections only.