Partial operations: Bank customers group appeals to members on hitches
As the lockdown across various states in the country continues to take huge toll on business activities, particularly on financial transactions by bank customers, the Bank Customers Association of Nigeria (BCAN) has urged its members to bear with the banks on some of the transactional hitches now being experienced, assuring that normalcy will be restored in the financial system soon.
The National President of the association, Dr. Uju Ogubunka, who gave the advice during a telephone chat with Daily Trust said he was quite aware of some of the complaints being made by bank customers over inability to do core banking transactions, pointing out however that “since this is a situation that was created by the banks but a global crisis, I want to appeal to our members to do transactions that are doable now by the banks until the COVID-19 challenge is overcome.
“The inability of the DMBs to attend to all requests by customers is not peculiar to Nigeria. So, I think we should limit our transactions to what is feasible now just as customers in other climes are doing now until normalcy returns to the entire global financial landscape”, the chartered banker appealed.
Investigations by our correspondents showed that most DMBs have closed their banking halls in Lagos, Abuja and other cities following the governments’ lockdown order as they collaborate to curtail the continued spread of the COVID-19 pandemic nationwide.
One of the Abuja-based bank customers who simply identified himself by his first name, Joseph, decried the closure of DBMs’ banking halls nationwide, following the frustrations he went through in his efforts to do some transactions through his dollar domiciliary account in one of the first generation banks in the FCT.
The customer, a former lecturer at Auchi Polytechnic, described the DMBs’ noncompliance with the apex bank’s order as undesirable for the financial system and a proof of “lawlessness”.
Indeed, he was particularly irked by a claim by one of the banks’ official message to his inquiry which indicated that the branch he visited to do transactions across the counter was opened.
The message read: “Dear .... Our Branches are OPEN Nationwide. Following the directives for partial lockdown in several States across the country, we will be offering skeletal services in some of our branches across the country.
These branches will open from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm (Monday Friday) to serve you.
“We have implemented all necessary health and safety measures across these branches to keep you safe at all our locations. Click here for list of branches that you can bank at….”
In his response, Joseph said “Apparently, it appears the Bank is not implementing what it promised. I have money in my dollar account, but I cannot access it through the ATM. But it’s OK. Please enjoy your leave.”
It would be recalled the Central Bank of Nigeria had last Monday assured bank customers to stop panic withdrawals since banks and other financial institutions will remain open for business as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.