CBN Defends New Policy on ATM Cash Withdrawals, Says It’s Mutually Beneficial to Banks, Customers

James Emejo in Abuja

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has defended its recently announced policy imposing charges on cash withdrawal by customers from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) of banks other than theirs, saying it is mutually beneficial to the banks and their customers.
CBN’s Acting Director of the Financial Policy and Regulation Department, John Onojah, stated this yesterday during a television programme.

He said with the implementation of the new policy, the complaints of shortage of cash at bank ATMs will be a thing of the past, while banks will be helped to recover costs on the other hand.
“We have gotten the commitment of the banks to ensure that you don’t go to the ATMs and be told that there is no money. We have ensured that when you get to the bank, at least we have set a minimum of N20,000 that you can withdraw at your wish,” Onojah said.

“The third one is to say that even in remote locations, you will have machines that are there, not on the bank premises. Then on the side of the banks, deploying machines is quite expensive; they are capital-intensive; I wouldn’t tell you how much it costs a bank to deploy just one machine.

“And so, we need to be able to encourage them to at least do what we call cost recovery. It is a balanced circular that came out. While we look at the side of the bank, at least they should be able to recover their cost, we also want to ensure that the consumer to the bank at any point in time, has access to cash.”

Onojah reiterated that the charges are only for withdrawals from other banks’ ATMs, adding that there are no costs for customers any time they withdraw money from ATMs owned by financial institutions that they bank with.

The CBN in a circular on Tuesday to all banks and financial institutions announced that customers withdrawing from the ATMs of other banks would now be charged N100 per every N20,000.
 “The three free monthly withdrawals allowed for remote-on-us (other bank’s customers/not-on-us consumers) in Nigeria under Section 10.6.2 of the Guide shall no longer apply,” the circular partly read.
The CBN directed banks and other financial institutions to apply the following charges with effect from March 1, 2025.

The CBN said for off-site ATMs – automated teller machines not on a bank’s premises – like those at shopping malls, eateries and other public places — a surcharge of not more than N500 per every N20,000 will apply in addition to the statutory N100 fee for withdrawals by customers of other banks’ ATMs.