The Central Bank of Nigeria has called out some commercial banks on social media for neglecting their customers....CONTINUE READING
The Apex bank’s actions follows a series of customer complaints on social media, drawing the attention of the apex bank.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has asked commercial banks to address customer complaints.
The apex bank called out a couple of commercial banks on social media, specifically X, for neglecting their customers’ complaints.
Many of the banks’ customers took to social media to ask the CBN to compel them to refund the monies debited from their accounts.
The exasperated customers said they took the measure as the last resort as the banks have remained unyielding to their complaints over an extended period.
Some customers named the banks in their posts, tagging the CBN to prevail on the banks to refund their money.
Some customers revealed on social media that the banks’ customer care desks turned deaf ears to their requests.
An X user, @BoyeGift, and a customer of the United Bank of Africa (UBA) asked for a refund of his money after a failed transaction.
CBN lashes out at banks for neglecting customers on social media
Replying to the customers’ post, the apex bank asked the customer fulfillment centre of the UBA to address the issue raised by the client.
On October 27, 2023, the CBN asked Guaranty Trust Bank to address a customer’s refund request.
Zenith, Access Bank, 3 others receive 6.8 million complaints from customers in six months
In October, five commercial banks received 6,865,217 complaints as of June 30, 2023, a yearly increase of 117% from the 3,156,704 complaints received in the same period in 2022
Financial claims from the complaints in the first six months of 2023 stood at ₦326.11 billion, a 289% rise compared with ₦83.78 billion paid in claims in June 2022.
The data is contained in the reviewed Lenders’ report obtained from the Nigerian Exchange Limited, which includes UBA, Fidelity Bank, Access Bank, Zenith Bank, and Guaranty Trust Bank.
UBA records the highest number of customer complaints
UBA recorded the highest customer complaints of 1,930,518 as of June 2023 from the 475,121 recorded in the same period in 2022.
The number marked a 306.32% increase and the highest among the banks. The amount involved in the complaints was ₦125.26 billion from ₦4.39 billion as of June 2022. Access Bank comes next with a 132.25% increase in customer complaints between June 2022 and June 2023.
The bank’s complaints rose to 3,222 from 1,387,702, with ₦136.75 billion from the ₦57.87 billion recorded in 2022.
Fidelity Bank also recorded an increase of 77.69% rise in customer complaints, with 1,010,586 from 568,738. The amount claimed stood at ₦55.20 billion.
Zenith Bank’s customer complaints rose 12.55% to 247,685 from 220,067 as of June 2022. The claim amount from the bank amounted to ₦8.38 billion, a 66% increase from the ₦5.04 billion recorded in the same period in 2022.
GTB records the least customer complaints in 6 months.
Only Guaranty Trust Bank recorded a decline in customer complaints, which dropped from 505,076 in 2022 to 453,575 in 2023.
The bank also recorded a drop in the disputed amount to ₦517.67 million from ₦1.51 billion. It was reported that the banking sector contended with issues of the naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which led to a surge in electronic banking.
Here are banks CBN called out on social media
5.7m in one year: Access, Fidelity top List of Nigerian Banks with the highest number of customer complaints
It was earlier reported that ten of Nigeria banks received 5.7 million customer complaints in a year, from January 1 to December 31, 2021.
The 2021 complaint figures represent a massive increase over the 2.69 million complaints received by banks from customers within the same period in 2020.
The 10 banks surveyed are Zenith, Guaranty Trust Bank, First City Monument Bank, United Bank of Africa, Access Bank, Fidelity Bank, Union Bank, Sterling Bank, Unity and Wema Bank.
