Bank customers claim N103.92bn from UBA, Zenith Bank in 2022

Over illegal debits, among other sharp practices by staff, customers who transact businesses with United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) and Zenith Bank Plc in 2022 claimed a whopping sum of N103.92billion from both leading banks in Nigeria.

This is 2.29 per cent decline when compared to N106.35 billion customers claimed from both banks in 2021.

Extract from UBA’s 2022 financial year results revealed that customers in 2022 claimed N86.34billion, representing an increase oof 21.4 per cent from N71.13billion in 2021, while Zenith Bank’s customers claimed N17.6billion in 2022, a decline of 50.1 per cent from N35.23billion in 2021.

In line with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the resolution of customers’ complaints, relief seems to be on the way for aggrieved customers as the total budget of the two Tier-1 banks for the settlement of customers’ complaints in 2022 hit N43.66billion from N44.28billion reported in 2021.

In 2022, UBA reported N405million total amount refund to customers as against N3.58billion in 2021, while Zenith Bank’s total refund grew by 6.3 per cent to N43.25billion in 2022 from N40.7billion reported in 2021.

The data collected from their respective financial statements also showed a progressive rise in the number of complaints received by the two banks within the period under review.

In, 2022 for instance, the total number of complaints received by the two banks was 1,883,561 from 771,928 in 2021.

UBA with 1,408,062 received complaints from 464,391 in 2021 outpace Zenith Bank which recorded 475,499 complaints in 2022 from 307,537 reported in 2021.

However, banking industry watchers described the frequency of customers refund as an indication of timely response of banks to their customers’ complaints although some argued that banks were merely paying for their inefficiency by setting aside a huge amount of money to settle customers since the need for refund wouldn’t have arisen if banks had done their homework very well.

Almost daily, Nigerian bank customers have one complaint or the other regarding their banking experience.

Greater number of consumer complaints about banking services relate to excess charges, Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) issues, Point of Sale (PoS), Bank Verification Number (BVN), cheque-related issues, and fraud among others.

However, the reality is that some banks’ ATM galleries are always packed full with people spending hours on end just to withdraw cash from the machines.

Complaints like dispense errors, controversial deductions are among issues customers are battling with.

It was in response to these complaints that the CBN created the Consumer Protection Department (CPD) in 2012 in furtherance of one of its core mandates of promoting a sound financial system.

The CPD was established to develop and implement an effective consumer protection framework that would promote consumer confidence in the financial system.

The Department performs three primary functions: Complaints Management: This involves resolving consumer complaints against financial institutions under the purview of the CBN; Market Conduct & Development: This is to entrench fair and responsible market conduct amongst the financial institutions concerning their customers; Consumer Education/Financial Literacy: This is to promote and disseminate financial education and awareness amongst existing and prospective consumers for the enhancement of their economic well-being.

According to the apex bank major expected impact is the entrenchment of fair and responsible business conduct amongst financial service providers as well as the existence of a consultation and feedback mechanism to periodically determine the extent of consumer satisfaction.

Another expected impact is a general improvement in financial capability as a result of the various financial literacy programmes which would ultimately increase participation.