The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that customers of deposit money banks will no longer pay N100 on withdrawals from Automated Teller Machines whenever they use banks other than theirs starting from December 17, 2012.

The Governor, CBN, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, said on Sunday at the fourth Annual Retreat of the Bankers Committee in Calabar, that the  bank would begin the effective implementation of the removal of bank charges associated with the use of other banks’ ATMs by customers from next Monday.

Sanusi said, “We have agreed on a final date of Monday 17, December, 2012 for the kick-off, when every bank will remove the charges. We allowed some time for banks that have not configured their IT to do so and stop charging, and hopefully by 17th of December, you are not going to have any customer pay additional charges.”

The Bankers Committee had earlier said it would stop the service charge but was unclear on the stoppage date.

The Managing Director, First Bank Plc, Mr. Bisi Onasanya, had said that the modalities for the stoppage was being worked out, saying that within the shortest time possible, the adjustments would be reflected in all the ATMs.

The CBN boss also said the Bankers’ Committee had also initiated effective advocacy that led to significant progress in the reform of key sectors of the economy, including power, agriculture and the oil and gas sectors.

He said, “We affirm our commitment to a stable financial system that contributes to economic development and growth for Nigeria. We commend His Excellency, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s economic reform agenda and associate with the objective of growing the Nigerian economy and creating jobs.

“The CBN has taken proactive actions to ensure that the financial system remains focused and committed to the goals of economic development and sustainability. Effective partnership across government, banks, the private sector and key stakeholders is critical to achieve economic goals and objectives.”

He pointed out that the banking sector lending to the agriculture sector had increased remarkably from 1.5 per cent of total industry portfolio to 3.5 per cent in 2012.

According to Sanusi, banks have outlined strategy to attain seven per cent agric sector lending by next year and 10 per cent by 2017.

He said, “With a vision for a better future for Nigerians, the Bankers’ Committee is committed to a lead role as catalyst for economic development, improving access to finance by the unbanked and under-banked population and growth of the real sector. The Bankers’ Committee has focused on power, agriculture and transport infrastructure sectors for driving growth and identified opportunities for financial system intervention in the transformation of these critical sectors of the economy.”

While reviewing the committee’s activities for 2012, he stated that over N100bn had been committed to power projects from the Power and Aviation Intervention Fund, adding that the establishment of NIRSAL had encouraged the growth of formal credit for the agriculture value chain.

He also revealed that the number of the financially excluded population had reduced from 46 per cent of adults in 2010 to 38.7 per cent in 2012.

– Punch Newspapers