Cashless policy: No processing fees, tax, for cash agents says CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said to encourage cashless policy, agent locations would be omitted from paying processing fees or tax on cash out done.

It also said they would constantly take proactive measures to curb e-payment fraud through continuous collaboration within the banks and capacity building for financial institutions fraud departments.

Sam Okojere, the director, payments systems management department who doubles as the chairman of the Nigeria electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF), made this declaration at the second general meeting of the association over the weekend.

He said, “For clarity, the processing fees will only be applied on withdrawals above the prescribed thresholds. Likewise, if a corporate account should make a withdrawal or deposit N4 million in one day, the processing fee would be 5% of the N1m that is in excess of the prescribed threshold of N3m.

“In addition, there will be no processing fee either under the Cashless Policy or tax on cash-out done at agent locations in order to encourage financial inclusion in the country,” he explained.

On securing payment systems, he added: “As we build on the impressive successes recorded over the years, it is our aspiration to sustain the momentum and set new targets that will further secure the payments system.”

Referring to the recent fraud report, he said, “The NIBSS second quarter fraud report of 2019 shows attempted fraud volume decreasing by 47.28% from Q1 figures, while Web, ATM and Mobile remain the usual suspects to be used by fraudsters. “Therefore, it is necessary to review and strengthen the existing roles and enact new regulations to mitigate fraud risks in the Payment system. Taming fraud will continue to be a focus for the Forum.”