A business finance expert, Professor Adebiyi Abosede, has argued Nigerian banks are not performing better than operators of the Point of Sale (POS) on cash transactions.
He said the recent Naira redesign and cash – less policy of the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) exposed the banks.
Abosede said that the banks have not only been ill- prepared for the 21st century digital banking challenges but also not doing anything to add values to their customers.
He said they are mainly preoccupied with extracting costs from customers through hidden charges, stressing it is difficult to see any difference between them and the POS in terms of performance.
Abosede noted that when customers go to the POS operators, they pay service charges just as when they go to their banks for withdrawal or deposits.
He wondered why they should be made to pay when banks are using their money (deposits) to trade or do business.
He spoke with The Nation shortly after his lecture titled: “Managing Enterprise: Trends, travails and takeaways” at the 108th Inaugural lecture of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago -Iwoye.
He said: “The POS is point of sales. So, when you go to POS and want to take money from them, you are more or less buying money from them, that is why you have to pay charges. If you go to banks these days, and make withdrawal, you will pay charges. If you make deposits, they will still charge you. Isn’t it? And they still use your money to trade.
“So, banks will take your money to trade and make money but charge you for using your own money. That is the area of the hidden charges. In addition, when they give loans, what you will see is interest rates but not the other charges they will put in the package such that at the end of the day, a 30 percent interest rate for example, will now look like 37 percent rate. These are the issues, that is why I said, banks (in Nigeria) are not performing and they are even making money by using your money. They make money by charging you for using your money.”
