Senate Asks Banks To Allow Up To N40,000 Per Withdrawal From Their ATMs And Asks CBN To Suspend Card Maintenance Fee

The Senate has passed a resolution calling on the Central Bank of Nigeria to suspend the ATM card maintenance charges being deducted from customers’ accounts per month. They also called on commercial banks to configure their machines to dispense up to N40,000 per withdrawal.

The Senate made this known via a tweet @SPNigeria. This resolution came as part of a motion on the illicit and excessive bank charges on customers accounts, sponsored by Senator Olugbenga Ashafa, representing Lagos East.

Speaking on the Motion, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki said:

This is a motion that affects the lives of every Nigerian — irrespective of what part of the country you come from or whatever political affiliation you might have. This is why we are here: to always defend and protect the interests of the Nigerian people.

The Senate President said the Senate must work to ensure that the Senate’s resolutions on the excessive bank charges go beyond the debate stage and actually takes effect.

He said:

This Senate has done this many times before; when there was a hike in the mobile telecommunication data charges, we intervened and put an end to that. When there were discrepancies and increases in electricity prices, we also took action. We have done this on a number of similar cases. Therefore, on this, I want us to take effective resolutions.

The Senate further directed its Committees on Banking, Insurance & other Financial Institutions and Finance to conduct an investigation into the propriety of ATM card maintenance charges in comparison with international best practices and report back to the Senate.

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