At first he was scared it was from 419 (scam) and that they wanted to take his money. But looking at it well, I knew what it meant. And the implications. Let's break it down.“Please note that from Oct 21, we will charge N4 per 20 seconds for USSD access to banking services. Thank you.”
Before now, accessing banking services on the USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) was kind of free and made banking easier. But now with this announcement, customers who use the USSD service for banking access will pay to do so. In effect, N4 per 20 seconds and by implications N12 per minute of the session.
What? As expected, the reactions of customers filled the air.
"These charges are too much and are killing us!" exclaimed one young businesswoman.
"Stamp duty, Maintenance charges, ATM card monthly charges, oh my God! What have we done to deserve this agony from this government? All we wanted was Change. And this is what we got!"
Not Our Idea - Banks
The reactions are fiercest online and many banks have even responded to queries on their social media handles, apparently distancing themselves from the development, implying that the change is solely the idea of the Telcos.
The USSD banking is especially for the unbanked and semi-banked and low class who cannot afford smart phones and data. This helped in the financial inclusion drive.
All the Nigerian DMBs (Deposit Money Banks) have their own different USSD codes for banking:
GTBank USSD code – *737#
Fidelity bank USSD code – *770#
First bank USSD code – *894#
Wema bank USSD code – *945#
Ecobank USSD code – *326#
Zenith bank USSD code – *966#
And many more others.
With these codes, customers using even the cheapest of phones can perform many banking operations including but not limited to account opening, balance enquiry, funds transfer, and airtime purchase.
The Federal Government kicks
According to reports, the FGN has kicked against this move and even ordered banks to shelve the plan.
My question is: is that order supposed to go to banks? Or to the Telcos?
Well, it's still hot and being debated. This is Bestnaija.ng, stay tuned and let's see how it plays out.
In my next post, I'll expose and explain all the various banking related charges we have now. It's easy to lose counts.
Cheers.