[January 14, 2009]

Why UBA Daily ATM Withdrawal Limit is Now N100,000

Jan 14, 2009 (Vanguard/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --
While the adaptation to the use of ATM card as an alternative and faster means of withdrawing instant cash has continued to grow to appreciable level among Nigerians, majority of bank customers appear to be leaving in perpetual fear as a result of the activities of card fraudsters who dupe millions of naira from their accounts daily.

Although card fraud is a global issue affecting bank users, Nigerian banks, according to Vanguard Computers & E-business findings, appear helpless in an apparent attempt to fight the criminal activities of these fraudsters who have caused more harm than good with the latest technologies in their hands.

But in an apparent response to the dangers of these fraudsters, United Bank for Africa, last Friday, announced that its daily ATM withdrawal limit is now N100,000.

Although there was no detailed explanation on the decision to reduce daily withdrawal, UBA had in a text message to its customers stated that, "Dear valued customer, in order to serve you better and safeguard your funds, our daily ATM withdrawal limit is now N100,000. Thank you for choosing UBA".

The new development, according to Vanguard Computers & E-business findings, is to reduce the risk of customers who may fall victim of these fraudulent activities.

"ATM Card fraud is on the increase. These boys are smart using whatever technology they have. UBA has to take the decision to reduce daily withdrawal to N100,000. That is the truth of the matter. We have had cases of customers complaining that the money in the account has been tampered with by unknown persons. We are dealing with a case of about N500,000 as I speak. The customer's money has to be safeguarded at all times.

That is the main reason why UBA reduced daily ATM withdrawal limit", a UBA bank official (names withheld) in one of the bank's outlets in Ikeja told our reporter in an interaction.

According to the UBA bank official, once these fraudsters get to know card number of any user, they will use their technology tools to dupe the user. We may reduce daily withdrawal if the ugly trend persists. We need to safeguard the money of the customers who have worked so hard to save in a bank

Even though the new technology has reduced the number of customers at the banking hall, making Nigeria a cashless economy, ATM users have continued to fall victims to these fraudsters who use the latest technology at their disposal to perpetuate their criminal activities. Network failure among banks has remained unabated across the country, especially in commercial nerve centres where the technology has been deployed

Apart from ATM card fraud in the banking industry, network failure among banks, and absence of cash at different ATM cash points of different banks, seizure of ATM card according to findings, have persisted..

While bank customers are getting excited over the new technology, majority of banks appear to be relapsing in the old habits of inefficiency and failure to meet customers' expectations through quality services by not investing in robust infrastructure.

Instead of using intervention strategies to tackle these challenges head on, majority of banks, according to findings, are busy expanding their branches across major commercial cities in the country without investing in smart ATMs infrastructure that can have enough carrying capacity to take care of large number of users.

Unfortunately, the regulatory authorities may not have come out with a framework for regulatory guideline to enforce compliance.

Speaking on this development recently, the Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA), Prof. Cleopas Angaye, had in a recent IT event in Lagos, warned that Nigerian banks must brace up to the challenges of building a robust IT infrastructure to support ATM now exciting users across the country.

Adequate infrastructure, reliable help-desk and enlightened populace, the NITDA boss said, are factors to deal with if e-payment must be a success in the Nigerian environment, adding that Nigeria must prepare for e-payment as one of the requirements of the 21st knowledge economy. "But trust is still a serious issue in e-commerce. Nigeria needs to migrate from traditional to mobile banking.

"NITDA believes that banks in Nigeria have done well by adopting IT and we believe that much can be achieved. We are prepared to continue providing the enabling environment" he said

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