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Customers besiege banks as downtime on e-channels rises

By on December 28, 2014

Massive downtime on major electronic channels, including automated teller machines, point of sale terminals, and Internet banking platforms caused customers to besiege the premises of some banks in Lagos State on Wednesday.

Some customers even threatened to halt the operations of bank if they were not attended to before the close of work.

The complaints were that since most of the electronic channels, which ride on telecommunications network, had failed the banks should extend banking hours to enable customers make necessary withdrawals across the counter before the close of business.

Due to the Christmas celebrations, all deposit money banks were expected to shut their banking halls by 2pm. Our correspondent gathered that the crowds at the banks led to a massive spike in vehicular traffic in most parts of Lagos.

It was also learnt that the traffic situation was worsened by the prevalence of non-functional ATMs across most banks in the metropolis.

The number of ATMs in the country is about 12, 000, resulting in an average of 11.39 machines per 100, 000 adults, according to latest industry findings.

A World Bank report, however, showed that adults in the country accounted for about 56 per cent (95.2 million) of the total population (I67million).

In stark comparison, Indonesia with an adult population of about 90 million, doubled the number of ATM installed from 16, 700 in 2011 to 36, 500 in 2012, resulting in 37 ATMs per 100, 000 adult population, about three times the ATM per adult capita in Nigeria.

Clearly, ATM penetration is insufficient to meet the needs of bank customers.

Thousands of bank customers in Ojodu area of the state were seen by past 6pm making efforts to withdraw money from ATMs. Some of the ATMs in the area were not functional.

While customers waited on the ATM queue, some were seen battling with crappy data services on their smartphones, which would have enabled them to carry out financial transactions.

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria, mobile money operating companies have recorded transactions worth over N430bn between 2012 and December 2014.

Even with over 100, 000 PoS deployed in Lagos, many bank customers could not conduct financial transactions.

Reports suggest that only 20 per cent of the terminals are active. Our correspondent found out poor connectivity delivered by mobile operators remains a huge obstacle to widespread usage of PoS machines.

A customer at one of the big banks in Berger axis of Ojodu in Lagos, who gave his name as Philip Ike, said, “The telecoms companies that are supposed to provide effective data services to enable us carry out our transactions have failed.”

According to him, the challenge of carrying out financial transaction through mobile devices has been experienced since two weeks now.

“We could not transfer money or make payments with the Token on our phone and despite series of complaints and physical protests at the banks, there has been no improvement or any attempt to resolve the issue even with the Christmas festivity at hand,” Ike said.

He added, “This has contributed to the rush and traffic in Lagos, because everyone wants to get money since the banks will work half day on Wednesday (today) and Christmas is on Thursday and Friday, and no bank works on Saturday and Sunday.

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Osita Okechukwu, who was seen at an ATM point in Ikeja Shopping Mall, said, “In Kenya and other places in Africa, most people rely on the telecoms for banking, but in Nigeria the reverse is the case.”

He said, “We all get promises from these telecoms companies for better services but we eventually don’t get to see results. It is even worse because at a time like this, the Christmas season, the Token that was installed for us in the banks is not even functioning.”

Okechukwu, however, said the telecoms companies were not to blame totally for the challenges. “The key infrastructure, like power, that should enable them function and provide fast and efficient data services are not there,” he said.

 

[Punch]