The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, mandated its Committee on Banking and Currency to investigate the alleged excessive charges on bank transactions imposed by Commercial banks in the country.
The committee is to report back to the House within four weeks for further legislative action.
This is based on the motion moved by a member of the House, Sergius Ogun, titled ‘Need to Investigate the Imposition of Excessive Charges on Bank Transactions on Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria.’
Moving the motion that was unanimously adopted by the lawmakers, Ogun noted that Section 88 (1) and (2) of the constitution empowers the National Assembly to conduct investigations into the activities of any authority executing or administering laws made by the National Assembly.
According to Ogun, most of the DMBs in the country impose excessive and non-statutory charges on varying bank transactions carried out by customers.
The lawmaker recalled that in January 2020, in the bid to, among other things, stop the indiscriminate imposition of charges by banks, the Central Bank of Nigeria issued a ‘Guide to Charges by Banks, other Financial Institutions and Non-Bank Financial Institutions’, stating the approved charges to be imposed by the DMBs.
He said, ‘The House is concerned that despite the guide issued by the CBN, some banks still deduct outrageous amounts of money from their customers in the guise of bank charges with different descriptions.
“The House is worried that in most cases, the deductions are already covered by the CBN approved monthly Account Maintenance Fee (AMF), thus amounting to double deduction.”
The House had earlier on February 26, 2020 resolved to investigate the illegal and excessive charges being imposed on account holders by Deposit Money Banks.
The House, at the plenary on Wednesday, decried the deductions by commercial banks from its accounts.
The House, therefore, resolved that the Committee on Banking should liaise with “professional financial consultants to investigate and determine the extent of excess charges on the House of Representatives and other public institutions and individuals’ accounts held in various banks to determine the extent of excess charges, if any, in the last eight years.”
The committee was mandated to report back to the House with recommendations within four weeks for further legislative actions.
