The Central Bank of Nigeria last Monday said it had recovered N8.6 billion as excess charges fraudulently collected from customers by Deposit Money Banks.

The amount was recovered between May 29, 2012, when the Consumer Protection Department was created to protect the interest of consumers, and March 31 this year.

The Deputy Director, Consumer Protection Department, CBN, Mrs. Umma Dutse, made the disclosure during a chat with journalists in Abuja.

She said within the period, the central bank had received about 2,800 complaints bearing on excess charges, conversion and frauds, adding that some of the banks had been given the mandatory N2m fine.

The department was created with a view to promoting consumer confidence in the banking industry. Its role also includes advocacy, enlightenment, education and promotion of awareness among consumers in the industry.

Dutse said, “So far, the department have received and treated over 2,800 complaints from consumers against Deposit Money Banks as at the end of the first quarter of 2013.

“We have also been able to recover more than N8.6bn in favour of various consumers. The figures that I have just mentioned exclude complaints that have to do with Automated Teller Machines and electronic-related complaints, and also complaints from other financial institutions like microfinance institutions and Primary Mortgage Institutions. They are just complaints against Deposit Money Banks.”

She also said, “We have had cause to sanction some banks for breach of regulatory violation the normal N2m; and another thing is that the banks are compelled by the regulation to indicate in their annual financial statements all these breaches.

“So, I don’t think banks would want their shareholders to be seeing all these statistics that they are not consumer-friendly. I am sure with these, we will see great changes very soon.”

The disclosure came barely a week after the Bankers’ Committee of the CBN revealed its plan to investigate the excessive charges imposed on customers by Deposit Money Banks.

Bank’s customers had in recent times complained about fresh and arbitrary charges imposed on them by the DMBs.

Although only few banks had announced publicly their plans to introduce new charges, investigation by our correspondent revealed that some of them had introduced the charges secretly.

For instance, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Skye Bank Plc and Keystone Bank Limited recently introduced monthly maintenance fee on ATM cards, a move customers said was an indirect replacement of the scrapped N100 charge on ATM withdrawals.

Some banks were also said to charge as high as N50 for SMS to alert their customers of transactions on their accounts, far above the usual N4 that all mobile telecommunications providers charge for text messages.

Other arbitrary charges include N500 monthly maintenance fee for every current account, depending on the bank; and N5 inter-state commission on every N1,000 transferred into or withdrawn from savings accounts in a state different from where the savings account is opened or domiciled.

In some banks, customers forfeit their monthly interests when they withdraw more than three times in a month from a particular account.

But Dutse said the CBN would continue to ensure fair treatment as well as inculcate ethical practices among financial service providers in their relationship with consumers.

To achieve this, she said the bank would put in place a very strong monitoring and compliance scheme that would enable banks to stop arbitrary charges.

She said, “We are going to put a very strong monitoring and compliance scheme that is going to ensure that the banks do what they are supposed to do and I can assure you that with time, the banks will stop all these charges.

“All they need is to be monitored and to ensure that they are complying with regulation.”