ATM Charge on Inter-bank to up by 5 Percent

Holders of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards would pay N5 extra from next year when National Central Switch (NCS) assumes the switching and payment processes currently enjoyed by individual switching companies, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can now reveal.
The additional N5 is the interconnect charge for processing such transactions by NCS which is presently done by switching companies at N100.
In essence, ATM users will pay N105 for transaction done outside their banks while transactions inside their banks remain free.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that NCS has written to switching platforms notifying them of the N5 it will charge for each transaction done on its platform.
However, banks and connected switching companies are yet to agree on the mode of sharing of the new interconnect charge.
The inability of parties involved in the transaction processes of electronic cards to agree on the sharing formula of the new charge is delaying the signing of a commercial agreement required for the full commencement of NCS operations earlier planned to start last month.
When NCS finally commences operations, the problem of interoperability among different card switching platforms especially on the Point of Sale (PoS) terminal would have been solved.
Interoperability is the ability of systems, units, or forces to provide services to and accept services from other systems, units or forces and to use the services exchanged to enable them operate effectively together.