The body of Nigerian Bank Chief
Executive Officers, CEOs, has reacted to report that banks directed MTN Nigeria
Communication Plc to start charging customers for USSD transactions.
It dismissed the claim from MTN
that banks requested that customers should be charged for USSD transactions.
MTN had sent a message to its
mobile customers that with effect from October 21, 2019, N4 will be charged on
every 20 seconds spent while using USSD access to banking services.
“Yello, Please note that from Oct
21, we will charge N4 per 20 seconds for USSD access to banking services. Thank
you,” the message had read.
However, the CEOs insisted that
banks never directed MTN to charge customers as claimed by the
telecommunication outfit.
A statement jointly signed by the
banks CEOs reads: “Our attention has been drawn to SMS sent on Saturday 19th
October by MTN Nigeria Communications PLC (“MTN”) to customers of banks in
Nigeria in respect of the above.
“The message states that the
banks requested MTN to start charging customers for USSD transactions directly.
It also asks customers to contact their banks for more information.
“We wish to state as follows:
That the banks did not ask MTN to start charging customers as contained in the
text message. The decision on whether, and what amount, to charge a customer
for accessing USSD is entirely that of the telco company, in the same way a
customer is billed for calls, SMS and data.
“MTN is the only Telco that is
yet to implement end-user billing which is the standard practice for
customer-initiated transactions. This is despite the fact that the banks,
working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), have engaged MTN over a period
of more than one year to try and bring down the cost of USSD to aid financial
inclusion.
“That the banks are determined to
pursue the National Financial Inclusion Strategy of the Federal Government of
Nigeria and will continue to advocate that Telcos identify wholeheartedly with
this laudable initiative and implement transparent and low pricing model in the
use of USSD access codes.
“We wish to re-iterate that
financial transaction charges are regulated by the CBN as stipulated in the
Bankers Tariff, and that the charges for financial transactions carried out
with banks remain unchanged.”
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