Reps Seek Stiffer Punishment for Banks over Illegal Charges

House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency on Tuesday opted for stiffer penalties of millions of Naira as fine for commercial banks which engage in an illegal deduction of spurious charges on customers’ accounts domiciled in such banks.

The Committee took this position a 2-day public hearing it organised at the National Assembly on proposed amendments to the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act BOFIA 2017 where the lawmakers and stakeholders in the banking sector brainstormed on the way forward for the sector.

Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of the House, who declared the hearing open noted that bank customers had not stopped complaining of spurious charges on their accounts.

Dogara who was represented by Chukwuka Onyema, House Deputy Minority Leader, assured that the 8th Assembly was ready to legislate on the laws that would restore sanity into our banking system in the country

Jones Onyereri, chairman of the House Committee, said that increase in penalties to the bank operators would streamline the operations of such banks to conform to international best practices.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Cooperation  (NDIC) who made representations at the hearing said that the proposed amendments would help to eliminate sharp practices by commercial banks.

Mr Johnson Akinmwumi, CBN’s Director of Legal Services, who represented Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor, and Benema Taribo, his counterpart in the NDIC, said that the proposed amendments to the BOFIA Act would ensure that bankers adhere to international best practices.

Akinwumi particularly lauded the proposed amendments to sections 3,4 and 5 of the BOFIA Act 2017 the best initiatives to reposition the banking sector.

Some of the  penalties in the 70 proposed amendments to the BOFIA Act 2017 include:

(a) A fine of N20 million on banks that fail to comply with the conditions of the licence.

(b) A fine of N20 million on any director that fails to declare any property he/she owns that runs contrary to the Act.

(c) A fine of N10 million against a director or manager that fails to keep a book of account.

(d) A fine of N2 million on banks that fail to publish its annual report of its general meeting in two reputable national dailies among others