Reps, CPC probe banks over malfunctioning ATMs

The House of Representatives and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) have begun investigation into allegations of wrongful withholding of customers’ monies through malfunctioning Automated Teller Machines (ATM).

The decision of the lawmakers followed the adoption of a petition on the issue presented by Ali Ahmad (PDP, Kwara). He noted that the trend is a threat to the country’s transition to cashless economy.

The petition, according to Ahmad, who is also Chairman, House Committee on Justice, narrated how customers went through harrowing experiences through malfunctioning ATMs.

Ahmad said: “The petitioner narrated how he went through due process by making formal complaint of reporting the non-dispense of his money while his account was debited. He resorted to the petition and House of Representatives’ intervention two months after the incident to curb further tactical manipulation of the banking system.”

Ahmad, while defending the need for the investigation, noted that withholding customers’ money for more than the stipulated period should not be treated with levity.

The petition reads on part: “The banks would continue to indulge in this since there is no sanction to make them responsible by ensuring that their ATMs are always in good condition. It may not be out of place that the trend might be deliberate, probably in a bid to use unsuspecting customers’ money to ease their (banks) financial pressure.

“This is because if all the incidences are recorded and the funds aggregated by all the banks, there is no doubt that we will be talking about millions of Naira being deliberately denied customers while the banks are feeding fat on it.

“These funds are held supposedly for 10 working days, which translates to at least two weeks and the owner of the fund is made to run from pillar to post and at the end of the day, no interest is added to the fund, he said.”