CBN Refunds Fraudulent Charges worth N17Bn to Customers

The Central Bank of Nigeria has refunded over N17 billion to customers who were fraudulently charged by various banks as at August 2014.

Hajia Khadijah Kassim, head of Consumer Protection Department of the CBN, said this in Calabar, Cross River State yesterday following about 5, 500 complaints received from bank customers.

Sequel to a question asked on bank fraud at the press briefing to mark the commencement of the Financial Literacy and Consumer Awareness Campaign in Calabar, she assured that as soon as they received complaints of fraud the apex bank wasted no time in addressing it.

“We ensure that banks treat their customers fairly,” she said.

She said customers have a right to complain, and advised they always pay attention to their bank statements regularly.

Kassim urged that customers question any debit to their account they do not understand and report to their various banks.

She said the banks have a period of thirty days to resolve the issues else they are escalated to the CBN, where they ensure the issues are resolved fairly to the customer.

Kassim, who represented the Director, CPD, Mr. U.A. Dutse, said the CBN was putting structures in place to ensure that consumers got maximum benefits from financial services provisioning to enable them take charge of their financial well-being and enhance economic development.

She said the purpose of the week-long sensitization programme is to interact and to sensitize Cross River State residents on financial literacy and consumer protection issues.