Nine banks make N59.6bn from maintenance charges in 6 months

As Nigerians continue to groan under excessive bank charges deducted from their accounts, Zenith, UBA, Access banks and six others made N59.596 billion from these charges, including electronic banking fees, National Daily has gathered.

From the banks half year results for 2017, United Bank for Africa, Stanbic IBTC, Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank, FBN Holdings, Diamond and Fidelity Banks had jointly made N34.849 billion through electronic banking charges, although it was less than N76.155 billion which they made through the same channel in the first half of 2016.

With the exception of Zenith Bank which recorded a rise in income from electronic banking fees, the other banks had significant declines in the income from electronic channels. There was also a decline in what the banks made through account maintenance charges.

In the first half of the year, eight banks made N24.747 billion, a reduction in the charges compared to N28.368 billion that was made in the first six months of 2016. Of the banks, Zenith Bank stood out in what it made from account maintenance charges while UBA, despite the substantial decline in electronic banking fees income still recorded the highest figure.

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UBA which recorded the highest income from electronic transactions saw a 45.9 per cent decline from N18.085 which it made in the comparable period of 2016 to N9.781 billion. GTB which saw a 61.4 per cent decline from N17.263 billion it made in 2016, followed UBA with an income flow of N6.668 billion from electronic banking charges.

FBN Holdings also saw a decline from N10.59 billion which it made in 2016 from electronic banking charges recording an income flow of N6.53 billion, while Zenith Bank recorded a 168 per cent in income flow from electronic transactions in the first six months of the year making N5.386 billion as against N2.008 which it made in the comparable period of 2016.

Zenith Bank also made N8.32 billion from account maintenance charges in the first half of the year compared to N8.92 billion which it made in the H1 period of 2016. GTB increased it income flow from account maintenance charges from N3.89 billion to N4.87 billion.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), earlier in the year had reviewed the Guide to Bank charges cutting down what customers pay for electronic bank transactions although it retained the account maintenance fee which banks started charging after the phasing out of commission on turnover in 2016.

The apex bank in the revised guideline cut the charges on internet banking transactions to N50 from N100 and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) to N500 from N700. It however increased charges on card maintenance fees from N100 annually to N600 annually.